Press Invitation

February 14, 2006.

    You are invited to a press conference on the occasion of the first Advisory Board meeting of the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) which will take place on Wednesday 15 February. The press conference will take place at 1545 at the EUBAM headquarters (13, Uyutna str., Odesa). It will be attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Borys Tarasyuk, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Andrey Stratan, the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine and Belarus, Ian Boag, the European Union Special Representative for Moldova, Adriaan Jacobovits de Szeged, and the Head of the EUBAM, Brigadier-General Ferenc Banfi.
    The Advisory Board meeting will be attended by the above-named people together with the Heads of the Border Guard and Customs Services of Ukraine and Moldova and representatives of the European Commission, the UNDP Representations in Ukraine and Moldova and the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Moldova.
    The meeting will:
    ° report the initial findings of the EUBAM Mission;
    ° initiate a dialogue on future areas of co-operation between the Mission and the border guard and customs services of Moldova and Ukraine in pursuit of our common objectives.
    Editor’s Note:
    The EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine was launched on 30 November 2005. 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;
    ° to improve co-operation between the Moldovan and Ukrainian services.
    The Mission is likely to last around two years. The Mission has its headquarters in Odessa, and five field offices. It includes 69 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 will provide 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.
    Places are limited. To apply for accreditation or to bid for an interview with participants of the press conference to office tel. (0482) 36-52-73, mob. +38 050 386 89 73 or e-mail: press@eubam.org.
    Contact:: Anastasiya Trotska, PR Assistant, EUBAM.