MINSK, 21 February (BelTA) - The draft national concept of integrated management of the Belarusian state border will be developed in Belarus, BelTA learned from the press service of the State Border Committee of Belarus.
Minsk played host to a working meeting of experts of the information and analytical units of the border agencies of Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on 20-22 February within the framework of the European Commission TAIEX program. The parties discussed the theoretical and practical experience of these EU countries in integrated border management.
According to Dmitry Lyubkin, the head of strategic analysis and planning at the State Border Committee of Belarus, the work of the EU expert mission on the integrated state border management is the final assessment stage, after which the State Border Committee, with the participation of the State Customs Committee and other stakeholders, will draft the national concept of integrated management of the Belarusian state border.
“Implementing the concept will enable us to better assess the transboundary issues at the external border of the EU with the Republic of Belarus, create additional conditions to provide international technical assistance to the border agency of Belarus and, in general, will contribute to the effective operation of a region-wide border security system. When working on the draft, we will draw on the international experience but will be primarily guided by Belarus' national interests on the border,” he stressed.
The press service noted that the meeting has special significance for the border authorities in light of the efforts to devise the departmental approaches to the conceptualization of the integrated border management system. This system is designed to be an important tool in ensuring the border security of the state and is needed for building up the technical and methodological capacities of the border agency of Belarus.
As part of the effort to strengthen regional cross-border security and combat cross-border crime, the experts carried out threat assessment on the joint borders of Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the press service added.
Attending the event was attache of the European Union representative office in Belarus Outa Hermalahti. “The integrated state border management system means that the country runs a mechanism where all the agencies that operate on the border coordinate their work with the neighboring countries,” she said.
TAIEX is the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument of the European Commission. TAIEX supports public administrations with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of EU legislation as well as facilitating the sharing of EU best practices. The program is implemented through seminars, expert missions and educational trips. The participants of TAIEX are partner countries of the European Neighborhood Policy, including Belarus.
