FOREIGN MINISTERS OF UKRAINE AND MOLDOVA WELCOME FIRST STEPS OF EU BORDER ASSISTANCE MISSION

February 16, 2006.

    The Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Borys Tarasyuk and the Foreign Minister of Moldova, Andrey Stratan both welcomed the first steps of the EU Border Assistance Mission, following the first meeting of the Mission’s Advisory today. Both Ministers praised the speed of the Mission’s deployment following the request made in June 2005 by the Presidents of Moldova and Ukraine for border assistance.
    Minister Tarasyuk said the Mission has already shown it is effective and useful. He expressed the expectation that the Mission will assist with simplifying procedures for law-abiding citizens crossing the border while at the same time making smuggling and other illegal activites harder to carry out. He said that by inviting the EU to assist with these matters, Ukraine has shown its comitment and openness on issues relating to the Moldova-Ukraine border. Minister Stratan said border issues were high on the Ukrainian-Moldovan agenda. He said the attendance of both Foreign Ministers at the meeting showed the importance each side attached to this issue. He expressed Modlova’s appreciation of the Ukrainian position.
    The Board met to examine the intial findings made by the Mission in its first assessment report. The Mission, which has completed its intial scoping of the border infrastrcuture and control processess, made a series of intial recommendations. These will form the basis of a dialogue between the Mission and their local border and customs counterparts on future assistance activities. The recommendations fall into two categories: project-related activity aimed at capacity-building; and suggestions for amending border procedures to bring them into line with the norms prevalent in most EU member states.
    The Board includes high-level representatives of Moldovan and Ukrainian customs and border guards authorities, the European Commission, the UNDP (as implementing partner), the EU Special Representative for Moldova, the EU Presidency, as well as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The Foreign Ministers of both states also have the right to attend the Advisory Board Meetings. The EUBAM acts as Secretariat to the board.
    Editor’s Note:
    The EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine was launched on 30 November 2005 by the EU at the joint request of the Presidents of Moldova and Ukraine. The Mission is an advisory, technical body. It has no executive powers.
    Its aims are:
    - to assist Moldova and Ukraine to harmonise their border management standards and procedures with those prevalent in EU member states;
    - to assist in enhancing the professional capacities of the Moldovan and Ukrainian customs official and border guards at operational level;
    - to improve risk analysis capacities;
    - to improve co-operation and complementarity between the border guard and customs services between each other and with other law enforcement agencies.
    The Mission is likely to last around two years. The Mission has its headquarters in Odessa, and five field offices. It includes 70 experts seconded from a number of EU Member States: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, the United Kingdom.
    The Mission provides on-the-job training and advice to Moldovan and Ukrainian officials, reinforcing their capacity to carry out effective border and customs controls and border surveillance. It is hoped that through its work, the Mission will contribute to building confidence and strengthening cross border co-operation. Border co-operation and efforts to seek a solution to the conflict in Transnistria featured in the European Neighbourhood Action Plans agreed with both Moldova and Ukraine last year. Under the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy, the EU is reaching out to its neighbours in order to promote prosperity, common values and security as well as to help break down trade barriers.
    For addtitional information please contact Anastasiya Trotska, PR Assistant, EUBAM by office tel. (0482) 36-52-74, mob. +38 050 386 89 73 or e-mail: press@eubam.org.