EU offers vital support as Georgia develops migration policy

The European Commission adopted its second progress report on Georgia’s implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan.

Agenda.ge, 03 Feb 2015 - 15:05, Tbilisi,Georgia

The European Union (EU) is offering vital support to Georgia as the country improves its border and migration management policies so they become aligned with EU standards.

A senior customs official from Latvia shared her expertise in matters of Rules of Origin with her Georgian counterparts as part of the EU’s ongoing support for the Revenue Service of Georgia (RS) under the EU-funded Enhanced Cooperation for Secure Borders and Safe Migration program.

The EU said, following the historic signature of a free trade deal between Georgia and the EU on June 27, 2014, that Georgia required assistance from EU member states in dealing with "new and unfamiliar procedures”.

Maruta Znotina, Senior Customs Officer from the National Customs Board of Latvia, carried out a training course for 20 RS officers in conjunction with a senior officer from the RS.

This collaboration in training preparation was suggested by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to help consolidate the new training material within the existing RS curriculum.

Maka Khvedelidze of the RS International Relations Department welcomed the training.

"We are grateful to IOM for supporting the RS in this important matter and particularly for identifying an expert with the specific knowledge that is required," she said.

The EU-funded project, titled Enhanced Cooperation for Secure Borders and Safe Migration, was implemented by IOM and aimed to provide tailored capacity building activities for the Georgian authorities to enhancing the country’s border and migration management policies and institutional approaches in line with EU standards.

The project started on December 15, 2013 and will continue until June 2017.

The overall objective of this project was to enhance the capacities of Georgian authorities in the area of integrated border management and migration and bring the systems in line with relevant EU-Georgia Agreements and action plans, in particular the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan.