KYIV, 7 December 2015 - An expert from the State Border Guard of Latvia will present EU best practices on the establishment of Common Contact Points, including the development of international agreements and national legal acts toward creation of CCPs. Discussions will primarily focus on function and effectiveness of CCPs, operational capacities and division of responsibilities among staff of border agencies. During the training, the Ukrainian participants will share their experience related to the establishment and development of CCPs at their external borders with Poland and Moldova while the Belarusian participants will present their ideas concerning the creation of CCPs at the Belarusian – Ukrainian border.

The establishment of CCPs between the neighbouring countries facilitates information exchange, enhances border control and security, and strengthens cooperative relations at their common border. The main task of CCPs is to maintain information exchange in its daily operations and in response to direct requests by one of the countries.  CCPs promote joint work, where officers of neighbouring countries share the same premises, as well as contribute to higher level of integration and speed up the exchange of information in routine cooperation and in cases of emergency.

Russian Language Press Release

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BACKGROUND

This training is part of the European Union-funded project ‘Strengthening Surveillance and Bilateral Coordination Capacity along the Common Border between Belarus and Ukraine’ (SURCAP II). The project is being implemented by the International Organization on Migration in partnership with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, which oversees the implementation of the project’s training component. The overall  objectives of SURCAP II are to contribute to the enhancement of security levels on the Belarusian–Ukrainian border; to help improve international cooperation between the border services of the two beneficiary countries; and to help the beneficiary countries increase legal trade. The project beneficiaries are the border guard agencies from Belarus and Ukraine.

For more information please contact

Ms Adiba Asadova, ICMPD Project Manager, adiba.asavova@icmpd.org

Mr Pavel Kholod, IOM National Programmes Officer, pkholod@iom.int