ICMPD Director General Susanne Raab visited the Syrian Arab Republic on 4-5 November 2026 to discuss cooperation on border management, institutional development and support for the country’s recovery. At her meetings with national agencies in Damascus, Ms Raab presented ICMPD’s whole-of-route migration governance approach and discussed future partnerships on systems modernisation, training capacities, service delivery, technical and complementary assistance, as well as support on mobilising the expertise of Syrian expatriate communities to support national recovery.
Discussions also built on BRIDGE (Building Regional Institutional Development and Governance for Enhanced Border Management), ICMPD’s five-year programme supporting border management and institutional development in Syria. The programme aims to strengthen safe, lawful, and rights-based border management in Syria, contributing to regional stability, and institutional resilience.
ICMPD, according to Ms Raab, is pleased to explore opportunities to strengthen institutional cooperation and sustainable training capacities. She shared that they discussed their common understanding of the country’s priorities and areas where ICMPD could make a useful contribution; and that any approach would respect national and institutional mandates, and integrate human rights as well as protection considerations and safeguards. This was Ms Raab’s first mission to Syria since taking office as Director General this year.
Ms Raab met with Ms Nahla Osman, Director of the Expatriates and Refugees Department, and Mr Mohamad Bathish, Head of the Multilateral Cooperation Division, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates; Mr Mazen Alloush, Director of International Cooperation and Mr Abdallah Shammat, Director of Passengers Affairs at the General Authority for Borders and Customs; Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management H.E. Raed Al-Saleh; Deputy Minister of Interior Brigadier General Bassem Al-Mansour, and Mr Yaser Al-Jundi, Director of the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
Ms Raab welcomed the insights from the agencies’ officials, including on issues in migration and refugees’ affairs, in response to nationally identified needs and in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. Recent exchanges have explored opportunities for training and other technical cooperation and partnerships in the future; aligning with Syria’s priorities and linking safe and sustainable return to restored services, livelihoods and rehabilitation of border infrastructure.
Discussions also explored diplomatic trainings, support for border and customs trainings, and cooperation on maritime border management. Counterparts also considered solutions to strengthen institutional information management and improving access to reliable migration information for expatriate and refugee communities, drawing on ICMPD’s Migrant Resource Centre and Unity Hubs.
