Ranko Ostojić

Aleksandar Vulin, Serbia's minister for refugees, on Thursday said Serbia would no longer allow in "economic" migrants after Slovenia and Croatia announced they had barred such migrants from their countries.

Four states along Europe's Balkan refugee corridor shut their borders on Nov. 19 to those not coming from war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq, leaving thousands of others seeking a better life in Europe stranded at border crossings.

Some refugees from the Middle East have started to enter Croatia from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, opening up a potential new route towards Germany and northwest Europe.

Interior ministers of Serbia and Croatia Nebojsa Stefanovic and Ranko Ostojic met on Friday and announced that "some concrete steps have been agreed."

They said Croatian trains will in the future pick up refugees in Sid, on the Serbian side of the border, and take them to a reception center in Slavonski Brod, Croatia.

Croatia's Interior Ministry has said some 10 000 migrants crossed into the country on Friday, September 25 alone.

On its website, it has also put the total number of migrants who arrived at 65 000.

After Hungary, Croatia appears ready to close its border to war refugees, mostly desperate Syrian and Iraqis, but also to huge groups of third country nationals from as far as away as Bangladesh exploiting the refugee crisis to illegally enter Europe until they reach their desired destination.

About  29,000 migrants have entered Croatia since September 16 when Hungary sealed off its border with Serbia, thus redirecting migrant flow to Croatia, Hina reported, citing figures available as of Monday morning.

After more than 13,300 refugees from Syria and Iraq entered Croatia from Serbia on Wednesday and Thursday, Croatia temporarily closed the border with Serbia on Thursday night. The biggest border passing, Batrovci, is still open for traffic.