Ministerial Declaration on Cooperation in the field of Border Security in South Eastern Europe

Published date: 23.02.2008 06:05 | Author: MINISTARSKA KONFERENCIJA

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FIFTH ANNUAL MINISTERIAL REVIEW CONFERENCE
Budva, Montenegro
21-23 February 2008









Ministerial Declaration on Cooperation
in the field of Border Security
in South Eastern Europe









BUDVA DECLARATION

Joint Declaration of the Ministers of Interior of Republic of Albania,
Minister of Security of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Republic of Serbia

We, the Ministers responsible for the enhancement of efficient and effective, citizens oriented border security system in our States, met in Budva on February 22, 2007, in order to evaluate the progress made by our national services and guide the process of further improvement of cross-border operational cooperation.

We highly evaluate the commonly developed Border Security Programme which guaranteed, through interactive exchange of information by experts from all over Europe, a considerable improvement of professional knowledge and skills in all aspects of border security and created a comprehensive professional network based on transparency and mutual trust.

We reaffirming in full the contents, objectives and activities contained in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in February xx, 2004 in Brdo, first Ministerial Declaration from Skopje, February xx, 2005, Sarajevo Declaration from February 26, 2006, Dubrovnik Declaration from February 22, 2007 and accompanied them Plans of Actions, which will lead us to the full implementation of commitments made for further integration to the European family,

We recalling the purpose and the principles embodied in the Declaration of the Heads of State of the countries of South East Europe on the Fight Against Organised Crime and Terrorism, adopted at the Karadjordjevo Summit on October 15-16, 2006 and Police Cooperation Convention for SEE, signed in Vienna, May 5, 2006, and express our satisfaction for the achievements in harmonizing legal frameworks, in particular the development of a set of by- and multi- lateral international agreements and protocols signed during the present Meeting. We share the opinion that move from successes on setting up sufficient legal back-round towards stronger operational capabilities should be the path for coming years.

In order to enhance the implementation capabilities of the aforementioned legal acts, we take note of the availability of common joint operating procedures for cross-border cooperation and encourage our Border Services to adopt these procedures. We strongly support continuation of aspirations for creation of comprehensive set of in-service rules and regulations, stemming from Shengen requirements and for fulfilment of objectives of Police Cooperation Convention.

In line with the Integrated Border Management strategies adopted by all nation states in SEE, we encourage our Border Services to come up with a common Master Plan for the establishment of Joint Border Crossing points between neighbouring states. During the period of establishment of common infrastructure, principle of one stop control should be implemented using separated facilities, guaranteeing exchange of information in full scale.

We approve the use of the harmonized curricula for the basic training of border guards and border police officers.
We request the further development of Advanced Distant Learning programmes for local and regional border police leaders and encourage our services to create a Consortium between border security related education and training establishments of SEE for the development and constant upgrading of the curricula, its delivery and supervision, as well as for the pooling of experts.

We invite our Western- European partners to follow the initiative and join the Consortium in order to share experiences and find the best possible solutions for the effective training of border managers. We see these activities as important steps towards desired Common Virtual Border Guard Academy.

We bring to the attention of our Border Services the fact that future success in the area of border management is strongly related with timely and well organised information exchange. The enhancement of capacities for the implementation of the full intelligence cycle, including risk analysis, should be seen as a priority. We are open to structural changes inside of Border Police in order to endorse Risk Analyses model suggested by European Agency of External Borders FRONTEX and guarantee implementation of principles of common information management in- and between agencies responsible for fighting crimes related with illegal border crossings.

We task the Chiefs of the Border Police to report quarterly to the Chiefs of Cabinet of the Minister on the results achieved regarding the above mentioned activities. The progress made will be reviewed at the Sixth Annual Review Conference in February 2009.

We express our appreciation to the Government of Montenegro for hosting the Fifth Annual Review Conference. We also express our appreciation and thanks to DCAF and the Governments of Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland for their contribution to this programme.


Future Meetings

We have decided that the next Meeting of the Ministers of Interior and Security involved in DCAF's Border Security Programme will take place in Serbia in February 2009. Dates and venue to be confirmed.