Serbian Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic opened Wednesday an e-gate system at the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport which will enable more efficient border crossing without direct control by the border police.

“The e-gate system is a donation of the German company Milbauer with which the Serbian Interior Ministry signed an agreement on technical cooperation,” Dacic said.

This type of system has so far been introduced only at two more European airports: Charles de Gaulle in Paris and the Frankfurt Airport, but they are not fully connected with the border police system as it is the case in Belgrade.

The e-gate may be used by 1.5 million Serbian citizens who have biometric passport issued after December 31, 2009, Dacic added.

When crossing the e-gate, the citizens will touch the panel which will compare their fingerprints with the one in their passports, and if they match, the e-gate will open, Head of the Border Police Nenad Banovic stated.

The system automatically checks whether a citizen's personal identification number is on domestic or Interpol warrants, and whether the data in the passport are genuine, thereby stepping up security at border crossings.

Banovic added that Serbia is the first country with an electronic system which is connected with all other systems in Europe.

The ceremonial opening of the e-gate was attended by German Ambassador to Serbia Wolfram Maas.