On 02 November 2023, the 3rd Project Steering Group meeting of the EU Support in Strengthening Integrated Border Management in Ukraine – Resilience (EU4IBM-Resilience) project took place in Kyiv. The event was moderated by Radim Žák, Development Head of Region Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development that implements the Project. The meeting was attended by the EU Delegation to Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the State Customs Service of Ukraine, international and civil society organizations, and other partners.
The Steering Group reviewed the project’s progress over the last half a year under its four components: border management resilience, trade facilitation, sector management support, and secured operation of legislature.
In the reporting period, the project procured and delivered 500 mobile radio stations to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, conducted 20+ consultations on anti-corruption, and organized webinars to share anti-corruption experience and technical solutions applied in corruption prevention in Lithuania. The Project delivered to SBGS medical facilities the first part of the rehabilitation equipment, mainly fitness accessories and an exoskeleton, with follow-up training on its application. The Project team reported on successfully conducted analysis and re-engineering of the asset management working process and 20 related subprocesses of the SBGS.
In terms of cooperation with the State Customs Service, the project supported specialised training of customs canine teams: overall, 80 canine teams have been trained in 2023. Procuring one large-scale mobile cargo scanner has been successfully completed, and its delivery is awaited in spring 2024. Two more scanners are about to be contracted. On top of that, the project is procuring uninterrupted power supplies for the existing stationary cargo scanners to ensure their functioning in case of power cuts due to Russia’s attacks on power infrastructure in Ukraine. Training for scanner operators and analysts has also been launched.
In addition to the main subjects of Integrated border management in Ukraine – the State Border Guard Service and the State Customs Service – the “EU4IBM-Resilience” project team continues cooperating with the Ukrainian Parliament. During the war, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine plays a leading role in addressing the country’s significant challenges, including supporting active international and interparliamentary cooperation. To ensure the uninterrupted operation of the Parliament, the project plans to purchase armoured vehicles. Furthermore, EU4IBM-Resilience efforts will be directed towards further supporting the operation of cloud services to protect and use parliamentary data.
In the context of Ukraine’s European integration progress, the Project experts actively participated in assessing the compliance of Ukrainian legislation in the field of integrated border management with EU legislation. They continue to work on analyzing relevant legislative proposals submitted for consideration to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Preparation of webinars on the EU’s experience in the approximation of legislation is ongoing.
Summarizing the meeting, members of the Steering Group acknowledged the positive feedback from the beneficiaries regarding the Project’s effectiveness and outlined tasks for future productive collaboration. Additionally, participants of the event were briefed on the upcoming budget top-up of the EU4IBM-Resilience project, which will be extended until mid-2025.
The Steering Group took note of the high assessment of the Project’s activities by the beneficiaries and established objectives for future cooperation. The participants were informed of the upcoming budget top-up and project extension until mid-2025.
