Frontex Executive Director Ilkka Laitinen welcomed the visit on 26 November of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Delegation led by the Director of Migration Management Services, Yorio Tanimura, to Frontex Headquarters in Warsaw. “This meeting has given a new boost to the ongoing working relationship with IOM and will result in a concrete cooperation plan for 2009”.
The visit followed an exchange of letters in summer 2008 through which Frontex and IOM established a formal framework for developing the cooperation between both organizations. Both organizations share several of their respective fields of work and types of activities; they have also in common their regional approach focusing often on the same countries.
Frontex - by mobilizing Member States’ resources and the IOM - through its vast network of Member States and technical expertise in the field of migration management are both operational organizations which stress the importance of regular information sharing and consultation in migration areas of common interest. Such areas include joint work and mutual support on migration management and in the field of research and analysis of international migration flows.
Due to the complementary expertise and resources that both organisations can pool together, the cooperation between IOM and Frontex next year will focus mainly on capacity building activities. The quality and reach of their respective training activities, be it for third countries migration officials and border guards or for EU national border guards will greatly benefit from this cooperation, including when addressing the protection needs of vulnerable migrants.