The European Union (EU) allocated additional 10 million euros (11.09 million US dollars) to aid Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in managing migration, Delegation of the EU to BiH said in a statement on Monday.

As it was decided, the additional funds will be used for the opening of additional temporary reception centers in the country and for providing migrants and refugees with basic services and protection, including food, accommodation, access to water sanitation and hygiene.

According to estimations by the country's Ministry of Security, 10,525 illegal migrants were registered entering the territory of BiH in the first half of this year.

Currently, there are some 7,400 migrants who reside temporarily in the country, mostly in the Una-Sana Canton, located in the north part of BiH.

Apart from helping migrants in providing basic needs, the EU will continue improving the capacity of the country's border officials for identification, registration and referral of third-country nationals crossing the border.

In this way, as stated by the Delegation of the EU to BiH, it will be contributed to the fight against and prevention of migrants smuggling, trafficking and other cross-border crimes.

Since 2007, the EU has been providing assistance to BiH worth 58.6 million euros (65 million US dollars) in the area of migration and border management.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the so-called Balkan route in 2015, trying to reach Western Europe, but BiH was then not part of that route. Afterward, the so-called Balkan route closed and some 36,000 migrants have entered the territory of BiH since January 2018, mainly from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iraq.