Today, in the margins of the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, the EU has formally launched a Mobility Partnership with the Republic of Belarus to ensure better management of migration flows.
A Joint Declaration establishing a framework for future cooperation in the field of migration and mobility has also been signed by Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Igor Shunevich, and the Ministers responsible for migration from the seven EU Member States participating in the Mobility Partnership (Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania).
Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos said: “The launch of this Mobility Partnership is an important step towards strengthening the cooperation between the European Union and Belarus in the area of migration, asylum and border management. If the EU wants to be successful in tackling the migration challenges, we also need to step up cooperation with important neighbouring countries such as Belarus”.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the Slovak Republic, Robert Kaliňák said: “The Mobility Partnership will enhance cooperation among experts on migration, asylum and border management, further strengthening our relations in the area of home affairs. In addition, it constitutes a good step forward in our relations, as it will also bring the citizens of Belarus and the EU closer together.”
The EU-Belarus Mobility Partnership establishes a set of political objectives and identifies a number of areas in which further dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Belarus will be established in order to ensure that the migration flows are managed as effectively as possible.
The Republic of Belarus is demonstrating continued efforts to effective border management and to combating cross-border networks involved in trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants.
Under the Mobility Parthership, measures will be launched to increase cooperation in the areas of legal and labour migration; asylum and the protection of refugees; prevention and combating of irregular migration, including smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings; maximising the development impact of migration and mobility.