On 10 September, the Border Police Department was the host of the third meeting of the Local Coordination Committee of the project Strengthening the Migration Management and Readmission in Eastern Europe (MIGRECO) Moldova's component, managed by the Mission of the International Migration (IOM) in Moldova. The meeting brought together representatives of public authorities, international organizations, civil society and academic staff.

During the meeting there were presented the results of MIGRECO project for the period January-August 2014, of which support benefited also the Border Police, also, it was launched the study "Integration of foreigners in the Republic of Moldova: crimes based on hate and discrimination", developed with the support of IOM Mission in Moldova. The event was attended by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Sergiu Diaconu, who thanked the IOM Moldova team for the continued assistance to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including subordinated subdivisions in capacity building in migration management and cooperation for the readmission of persons, stayed illegally in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus, according to EU standards. Similarly, he specified the good cooperation with the IOM Mission in Moldova in the regional analysis of deficiencies, skills development in collecting and research of data on migration, as well as the bilateral consultations in the field of readmission.
In his speech, the Deputy Head of the Department of Border Police, Valentin Fiodorov, expressed the appreciation, particularly, for the support offered by the IOM advisers in developing the specifications for the activities under the policy matrix regarding visa liberalization and feasibility study performance and the needs assessment in the Matrix, and the preparation of materials related to EU missions evaluation. In this context, Mr. Fiodorov reminded about the study visit to Hungary, where border policemen had the opportunity to take the best practices in the field of integrated border management. "We will endeavor to remain a reliable partner for the IOM and hope to continue the bilateral cooperation" concluded the Deputy Head of the Department.

The main results of the project for January-August 2014 and the priorities for the future period were presented by the project coordinator MIGRECO, Simon Terzioglo, who thanked the Border Police to host the meeting of the Coordination Committee. In his turn, the Manager of the Program Capacity Building in Migration Management of IOM Mission in Ukraine, Marina Schramm, said that Moldova's success by obtaining visa-free regime with the EU, which serves as a good practice to other countries in the region which have initiated this process.
At the end of the meeting, the partners and the team of IOM Mission in Moldova discussed the study "Integration of foreigners in the Republic of Moldova: crimes based on hate and discrimination," the first of this kind conducted in our country.

Note: Project "Strengthening Migration Management and Cooperation in the field of readmissions in Eastern Europe" (MIGRECO) with a total budget of 2.4 million Euros, aims to contribute to strengthening migration management and to support cooperation on readmission in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. MIGRECO is funded by the EU via the Thematic Program in the field of Migration and Asylum of the EC, implemented by IOM in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Moldova.