Equipment with a total value of 6,348 EUR (GEL 21,580) will further develop abilities of the Georgian Government to combat irregular migration and cross-border crime.

At an event at Tbilisi Airport hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the EU together with project implementer International Organization for Migration (IOM) have donated 60 pieces of advanced border management equipment to the MIA.  This included document inspection equipment, enabling passport control officers at key border crossing points in Georgia to do a quick check of the security features of passports and other travel documents. In case of doubt, they can refer passengers to a more thorough second-line inspection and examination.

The document inspection equipment produced in the United Kingdom is a triple function document examination instrument, with an ultraviolet lamp mounted above the working area for checking UV security features, a white lamp mounted behind a diffusing window for the examination of transmissive features, and a halogen lamp mounted at the rear of the working area for the examination of dry stamps and indented or erased writing. 

These instruments are part of an EU funded support programme which includes equipment valued at EUR 10 million (GEL 34 Million) to Georgian authorities for use in areas of migration and border management.  Second-line inspection capacities of the MIA have been upgraded over the past years with EU support, to the extent that all major border checkpoints in Georgia possess sophisticated equipment that allows MIA officials to check the veracity of travel documents and take adequate measures if fraud has been detected.

For further information contact:

• Tamriko Mikadze, Press and Information Officer, Delegation of the European Union, Tamriko.Mikadze@eeas.europa.eu
• Ana Kakushadze, Media and Communications Officer, IOM, akakushadze@iom.int

Please also visit the IOM website www.informedmigration.ge.