Regional workshops on management of green border, protection and cross-border cooperation with frontier populations is held in Minsk.

A series of regional workshops on green border management, protection and cross-border cooperation with frontier populations, involving officers of border services of Belarus and Ukraine, was opened on 4 March in Minsk, Belarus. They are organized in the framework of EU-IOM project “Strengthening the Surveillance Capacity on the Green and Blue Border between the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine ” (SURCAP).

Head of the International Organization for Migration in Belarus (IOM) Zeinal Hajiyev said that he is very pleased with the level of cooperation between the IOM, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the European Union and the border services of Belarus and Ukraine.

According to him, during this period several seminars, study trips involving representatives of Belarusian and Ukrainian border services were organized in Hungary, Spain, Italy, and future one to the Greek-Turkish border.

Coordinator of the EU co-operation programs in Belarus, Rainer Ulrich, added that the project “is regularly accompanied by regular meetings and consultations of the countries-participants of the Eastern Partnership, in which Belarus has a very active role.” The next meeting will be held in Kiev, “- he said.

Mr. Rainer also remarked, that in the nearest future a project similar to SURCAP will start for Belarussian and Ukrainian customs.

Before the summer the European Union will finance the supply to the State Border Committee of Belarus at the border with Ukraine of two patrol boats, vehicles and night vision devices. These supplies are provided under a two-year (2012-2014) project of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) “Improving the effectiveness of the green and the blue border between the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine” (SURCAP). It is funded by the European Union. The budget for the technical component for Belarus is 850 thousand euros.

According to Mr.Rainer, the contract for the supply of boats has been already signed. The vessels will be on duty at Sozh and Dnieper rivers.

BelaPAN
Video by Sergei Satsyuk, BelaPAN