Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said that some of the most important decisions made by the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI) during Macedonia's chairmanship in 2014-2015 was the introduction of Kosovo in the network, and the work done on the Cavtat declaration from June 2014.

"This organization is needed in the region, given that many better established international organizations don't have the resources MARRI offers", Jankuloska said. Speaking about the broader strategic interests of Macedonia and the countries in the region that participate in MARRI, Jankuloska said that NATO and European Union membership remains a main goal for the Macedonian Government.

"Even though the Republic of Macedonia has been a candidate for a longer period of time, this is not discouraging for us. It gives us added strength to show we are ready to begin the process of accession negotiations as soon as possible", Jankuloska said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Trpe Stojanovski, director of the MARRI regional center, said that the Balkans is in a flux with growing numbers of refugees crossing in from other regions, and Balkan immigrants. Stojanovski said that the irregular migration is intensifying and all indicators point out that this trend will continue. MARRI, Stojanovski said, works to unite the efforts done by the national institutions, help exchange experiences between them and find solutions to the problem.

"We are talking about refugees who are trying to escape with their heads, from security reasons. But, the channels created here are used by structures that could also abuse them for radicalism or terror activities", Stojanovski said.

In 2014, there were 92 cases of people smuggling detected in Macedonia, nearly twice more than in 2013. A total of 166 people were charged with smuggling, and 17 groups with 43 members were charged as organizing large scale people smuggling. Another 32 persons were charged with abusing the visa free travel regime with the European Union countries.

The migrant center in Skopje housed 838 illegal migrants. Some 1.750 people were registered to have crossed the border illegally. Most of them are from Albania (624), followed by citizens of Syria (570) and Afghanistan (291).