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4 December 2007  On 4 December, Col. Gen. Mykola Lytvyn, Chairman, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, and Maj. Gen. Igor Rachkovsky, Chairman, State Border Guard Committee of the Republic of Belarus, discussed situation and prospects for further development of cooperation at the common border.
It was pointed out at the meeting that the Ukrainian-Belarusian border is the most stable, controlled and predictable among other segments. However, as Maj. Gen. Igor Rachkovsky noted, one of the tasks of the meeting, in his opinion, is to add a new impulse to border relations between the two agencies exactly in this stage when the State Border Guard Committee of the Republic of Belarus is under reformation. Experience of Ukrainian border guards is being actively used in this process. Col. Gen. Mykola Lytvyn, Chairman, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, informed his colleague whose visit to Ukraine as the Belarusian border agency head is the first one, about the situation with Ukrainian border protection. He also emphasized the need to finally complete the contractual and treaty process on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Having discussed functioning of Ukrainian-Belarusian border crossing posts, the border agency heads emphasized that joint efforts have ensured their smooth operation, continuous flow of individuals, vehicles and cargo, and created a system of response to illegal migration and unlawful activities. In 2007, the Ukrainian-Belarusian border was crossed more than by 8.5 million people and 1.3 million vehicles. At the same time, accession of neighboring countries to the Schengen zone may promote increase of passenger flow across the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. The problem of greater load upon the crossing posts needs to be addressed already now. The parties reached agreement that, in the absence of traditional means of engineering control on the common border, they will keep using new forms and methods of state border protection mechanisms. During 2007 on the common Ukrainian-Belarusian border, 1,640 persons have been apprehended for illegal border crossing including 54 illegal migrants, and 150 units of arms, 1245 ammunition, more than 76 kg of narcotic substances and over 16 million’s UAH worth of smuggled goods have been withdrawn. Summarizing the meeting, Col. Gen. Mykola Lytvyn and Maj. Gen. Igor Rachkovsky emphasized the need for further coordination of join efforts on the common border and signed a plan of development of the cooperation between the border agencies of Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus for the next year. The next meeting between the two officials will be held in 2008 in the Republic of Belarus. The photos are provided by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
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