Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 November (BelTA) – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) welcomes Belarus’ significant efforts to accommodate more than 160,000 Ukrainian nationals fleeing the conflict in the southeast of the country, IOM Director General William Lacy Swing said during a meeting with Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva Yuri Ambrazevich, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The sides discussed a wide range of issues related to cooperation between Belarus and IOM. The IOM Director General welcomed the efforts of Belarus that has received over 160,000 Ukrainian citizens fleeing the ongoing conflict in the southeast of Ukraine. William Lacy Swing also praised Belarus’ role in coordinating the international efforts to combat human trafficking. He emphasized the positive results of the cooperation between IOM and Belarus on the platform of the International Training Center on Migration and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the Academy of the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Belarus.

Yuri Ambrazevich expressed his confidence that with IOM’s new status as a United Nations-affiliated agency as from September 2016, its cooperation with Belarus will be further enhanced. He assured William Lacy Swing that Belarus consistently supports all measures aimed at strengthening the capacities and image of IOM which will celebrate its 65th anniversary in December 2016.

Yuri Ambrazevich stressed the importance of the projects implemented by IOM to build Belarus’ national capacities in the field of migration and combating trafficking in human beings. The diplomat noted that the Belarusian side is eager to boost the cooperation in developing biometric documents, managing migration risks, providing reintegration assistance, and facilitating voluntarily return to the country of origin.