A milestone event was held in Beirut to celebrate the completion of 10 years of Integrated Border Management in Lebanon.
The European Union funded project "Strengthening Capability for Integrated Border Management in Lebanon" (EU IBM Lebanon) marked its 10th year of implementation at an event in Beirut’s Mövenpick Hotel. Guests included Lebanon’s key border agencies and governmental institutions, selected embassies to Lebanon and relevant international organizations. The rich event included keynote speeches from ICMPD, EU and LAF respectively. Following the speeches, a 5-minute video was played; highlighting the accomplishments made across the different agencies EUIBM works with, and included live testimonials from the beneficiaries. On his part, EU IBM Lebanon Phase 3 project manager Viktor Makai delivered a presentation on the main achievements, challenges and lessons learned from the three phases of the project. The event was concluded by a round table discussion.
During the opening session, the Chief of Staff of Operations at the Lebanese Armed Forces, Brigadier General Hassan Jouni, delivered a speech on behalf of all partner agencies and reiterated his appreciation for the efforts exerted by the EU highlighting. Jouni highlighted "the importance of the European Union’s support to strengthen security in Lebanon, proved to be impressively positive both in terms providing the army and other security forces with modern means and techniques to control the borders, and training specialized members of these forces".
In her speech, the Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation, Mrs. Alessandra Viezzer, expressed the EU’s commitment to supporting Lebanon. She stressed that the "EU integrated border management project not only embodies our core values and security objective in supporting our host-country, but it also serves to make Lebanese feel safe and secure knowing that we have a solid presence in this country and we care".
The Director of ICMPD’s Migration Dialogues and Cooperation (MDC), Mr. Martijn Pluim, emphasized that “IBM Lebanon stands as a solid example of sustainable cooperation amongst likeminded organizations in upholding Lebanon's resilience to withstand shocks and pressures, which is essential given the unfolding political and socio-economic realities in the country, and the region altogether.