Belarus will take part in the joint border security operations with the European Union external borders agency Frontex, Chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus Igor Rachkovsky told media on 23 March.
[belta.by] Igor Rachkovsky reminded reporters that in 2009 Frontex and the Belarusian border service signed a memorandum of cooperation. In 2010 the two sides are expected to hold joint operations at the air and land borders, train border guards, provide risk analysis and many more. The State Border Committee of Belarus and Frontex are planning to sign another memorandum of regular information exchange and joint analytical activity in fighting against illegal migration.
According to Igor Rachkovsky, illegal migration threatens the global stability and cultivates such negative phenomena as illicit drug trade and human trafficking. The Chairman of the State Border Committee is confident that it is imperative to step up international cooperation and work out joint coordinated efforts to combat these threats. The State Border Committee, on its part, aims to improve the level of border security cooperation with other states.
Frontex representative Jozsef Bali told reporters about the plans on joint border security operations in 2010. In his words, in H1 2010 Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the EU will hold a special-purpose joint operation to measure and filter illegal migration. As for the situation on the Belarus-EU border, Jozsef Bali stressed that “the border is well-secured by both the sides”.
Antonius Broek, UN/UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus, emphasized Belarus’ considerable contribution to the development of the European border security at the opening ceremony of a session of the task group, Counteraction to Illegal Migration, within the International Conference on Border Management. In particular, he stressed a widespread introduction of up-to-date border control systems and the development of the canine center. Antonius Broek also stated that the government of Belarus has been taking every effort to combat illegal migration taking into account the country’s transit position between the CIS and the European Union.
Minsk is hosting a session of Belarus-led task group, Counteraction to Illegal Migration, within the International Conference on Border Management on 23-24 March. The participants of the session will detail the issues of mutual interest, exchange information and experience on the problems of current important in the area of illegal migration counteraction, establish useful contacts and elaborate new, more efficient ways of responding to modern-day challenges and threats. Partaking in the session are representatives of the border law-enforcement agencies and diplomatic corps of 11 countries, representatives of six international and non-government organizations.
According to the State Border Committee of Belarus, in 2009 Belarusian border guards revealed 16 channels of illegal migration, detained over 200 illegal migrants. There were opened 96 criminal cases, with 14 of them for the organization of illegal migration. Belarus deported almost 700 foreigners and stateless persons, revealed 26 forged documents.
