On the International Conference on Combating Illegal Migration

On November 15, 2024 upon the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported by the State Secretariat of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus the International Conference entitled «Measures taken in the Republic of Belarus to deal with irregular migration and good practices in furthering regional cooperation to solve this problem» was held at the premises of the National Library of Belarus in Minsk.

The Conference has convened together representatives of the Belarusian interested state governing bodies and public organizations, appropriate international organizations, such as IOM, OHCHR, UNHCR, ICRC, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Collective Security Treaty Organization, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and states of Europe, CIS and other regions.  

More than 150 people representing more than 30 countries have participated in the Conference. The State Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus, Aleksandr Volfovich, has delivered welcoming remarks to the participants of the Conference.

The main tasks of the Conference were to appraise current migration situation on the border of Belarus with Western countries, to bring to the notice of foreign guests systematized efforts of the Belarusian governing bodies and public organizations to counteract irregular migration and render assistance to the migrants occurred themselves in difficult life situations on the territory of Belarus, to make prerequisites for return to the normal conditions of cooperation with neighboring countries of the European Union in the area under consideration.

In his statement at the Conference the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Maxim Ryzhenkov, noted the readiness of Belarus to resume cooperation with EU countries on the issue of irregular migration in any format. «If our neighboring countries are unable to ensure solving the issue of migration in the interests of the whole European Union because of their ambitions and short-term interests, classical Europe should consider the necessity to contact Minsk directly for solving the problem of migration. We are ready to it», - the Minister stated. 

print version