Ukraine-EU border: pilot project to curb smuggling and cross-border crime

On 17 May 2021, the EU-funded project ‘EU Support to Strengthening Integrated Border Management in Ukraine (EU4IBM)’ launched a pilot initiative on the prevention of cross-border crime at the green border between Ukraine and Romania. The pilot includes elements of technical re-equipment, as well as joint capacity building and anti-corruption trainings implemented on the basis of the new infrastructure.

“Integrated border management is indeed key to strengthen security and facilitate trade exchanges between Ukraine and the EU,”said Xavier Camus, Head of the Good Governance and Rule of Law Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, welcoming the efforts of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS).

The pilot started with a field assessment of the selected segment of the Ukraine-EU land border to diagnose the existing border protection infrastructure and its vulnerabilities to smuggling and other cross-border crime. A special expert group will formulate the turnkey solution to be implemented and prepare technical specifications for the border protection equipment and a roadmap for its deployment.

“The segment we work at is among the most vulnerable at Ukraine’s western border. Just at the time of the expert visit, the night border guard patrol intercepted the smuggling of 27 boxes (13,790 packs) of cigarettes. Both Ukraine and the EU suffer from cross-border crime,” said Arunas Adomenas, EU4IBM Team Leader.

In the coming months, SBGS and the EU4IBM project will be jointly implementing the recommendations to pilot the proposed border protection solution.

The project “EU Support to Strengthening Integrated Border Management in Ukraine (EU4IBM)’, which runs runs from December 2019 to June 2022, is funded by the EU and carried out by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). It supports the implementation of reforms approximating the border management system of Ukraine to EU standards.

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Press release