A news conference dealing with a visit paid to Ukraine by Leczek Elias, Chief Commandant of the Polish Border Guard, took place 18 June at the IOM Mission in Ukraine. In addition to the high-ranking guest, the event involved Sergiy Radutny, Deputy Department Director of the MIA of Ukraine, Anatoliy Zarytsky, Deputy Director of the International Law Department, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, and Jeffrey Labovitz, Head of the IOM Mission in Ukraine, who actually acted as a moderator for the conference.

The event aimed to discuss results of trilateral cooperation between the Border Guard of Poland, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, and the IOM Mission in Ukraine concerning implementation of six long-term projects of international technical assistance.

The conference began with a historical excursion. The Chief Commandant of the Polish Border Guard provided a brief information on numerous stages and changes related to Poland’s entry into the EU and accession to the Schengen area. The Polish party assured its counterparts that Ukrainians would need European experience as well. The Poles regard direct cooperation with the Ukrainian border guards as quite productive and fruitful. Mr. Elias poetically described it as a “tango for two” in which none of the partners is able to move without the other’s consent.

Much was also said about HUREMAS project launched in Ukraine in 2006-2007. Its result for today consists of a considerably high level of the logistical base of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, improved teaching programs, numerous trainings, real assistance to illegal migrants, and, most importantly, the Service’s gradual transformation into a European-style law-enforcement body. Taking these successes into account, the project has already proceeded to the next stage, and is actively functioning in its logical continuation, HUREMAS-2 project.