ICMPD, in cooperation with European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), organised a regional workshop titled “Interagency and International Cooperation: Good Practice

 

ICMPD, in cooperation with European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), organised a regional workshop titled “Interagency and International Cooperation: Good Practices of Joint Border Control at Border Crossing Points” in Odessa from 16 - 18 January 2012. This workshop was carried out under the umbrella of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) IBM FIT project.

The event convened representatives from border and customs services, ministry representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as experts from EUBAM and ICMPD (Latvia and Poland). The purpose of the workshop was to promote the EU Integrated Border Management concept among all relevant EaP authorities and agencies involved in border security and customs. In particular, the event aimed to introduce the participants to good practices on the implementation modalities of joint border control. These modalities include topics ranging from legal and operational aspects between neighbouring countries to the necessary requirements of the IBM standards. Moreover, the workshop provided an opportunity for the participants to compare the workflows and operational procedures of the land border crossing points of EU and EAP countries. The aim of this comparison was to highlight discrepancies in order to avoid an overlap between the various authorities involved in border issues.

The meeting also introduced and highlighted the positive aspects of jointly operated border crossing points and familiarised EaP border/customs and police officials with the principles of the EU IBM concept in regards to cooperation with third countries. Special attention was paid to analyzing past procedures between EU –non EU countries, such as Germany and Poland or Latvia with its neighbours and between non-EU countries, such as Ukraine and Moldova, Albania and Montenegro and Georgia and Turkey. The aim of this analysis was to assist border crossing points in achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness in line with EU standards and to increase the operational cooperation between agencies.

The workshop provided a good opportunity to share experiences in the afore-mentioned topics and to learn about solutions and future initiatives from Eastern Partnership countries, Western Balkan countries and EU countries. The participants were active and very much focused on the content of the workshop. They shared and discussed practical examples of inter-agency, intra-agency and international cooperation in the context of the workshop. Once again, the joint workshop with EUBAM proved to be an exemplary and useful forum for the participants.