EUBAM congratulates Lieutenant General Petro Tsyhykal in his appointment on 25 July as the new Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and looks forward to continued professional co-operation with the Service. The Mission also wishes General Viktor Nazarenko well in his new position as a Presidential Advisor, and thanks him for three years of good working relations.

On 17 July, the President of Ukraine and Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova formally launched joint control at Kuchurhan-Pervomaisk border crossing point. Experts from EUBAM’s Field Office in Kuchurhan monitored the implementation of joint controls and advised the Moldovan and Ukrainian services on ensuring that practices met EU standards. The jointly operated border crossing point should further regularise and facilitate trade between both countries, to the benefit in particular the business community at large, be it in Ukraine or operating on both banks of Dniester river. It should also ease movement of goods in both directions.

EUBAM continued to promote inter-agency co-operation to identify border threats in July, through workshops on regional risk analysis in Bilhorod Dniestrovskyi and Izmail. Specialists from Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, State Fiscal Service, National Police and State Migration Service were briefed on new risk methodologies and the benefits of co-operation between the services for detecting irregular migrants and smuggling of goods, weapons and drugs. Risk analysis allows border agencies to more effectively identify threats and target perpetrators at the border.

On 4-5 July, experts from Poland, Belgium, Estonia, Croatia and Latvia gave new insights to guide Moldova’s Customs Service and Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service on the implementation of customs risk assessments. The seminar focused on five main themes, including customs risk taxonomy – risk classification and register; performance evaluation in risk management; analytical IT tools used in risk analysis; risk analysis and profiling of passengers in air and railway traffic; and risk profiling of parcels in postal and express couriers.

EUBAM, EUAM and Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service’s Department for Professional Training and Dog-handling conducted a practical workshop on international anti-corruption policies and best practices on 6-7 July. Officers from Odesa Customs House were informed on the problem of corruption from different perspectives and briefed on EU anti-corruption policies, experiences and practice on the detection and limitation of corruption.

Free Zones and Customs Controls were in focus on 4-6 July as EUBAM conducted a seminar for central and regional managers of Moldova’s Customs Service. The operations of Free Zones are regulated within the EU-Moldova Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. During the seminar, managers were briefed on the design and operation of Free Zones, organisation of customs control over the flow of consignments and the tools used in the control of goods stored under customs supervision in Free Zones (photo: Galyna Yudina)

The inaugural Giurgiulesti port users’ forum took place on 4 July. Involving all border agencies present at the port, as well as the Harbour Master and the port’s operators, the forum followed-up on May’s launch of the EUBAM-MDCS assessment of customs procedures at Giurgiulesti International Free Port. As a result of the forum, it was agreed that pre-arrival information will be shared with ANSA 24 hours in advance, to enhance their risk analysis capacity.