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National Strategy on Integrated Border Management

Description

The Albanian IBM Strategy contains an assessment of the current situation in the field of border management and identifies the areas where improvement is necessary

Summary

The term Integrated Border Management (IBM) refers to the coordination and cooperation among all the relevant authorities and agencies involved in border security and trade facilitation to establish effective, efficient and integrated border management systems, in order to reach the common goal of open, but controlled and secure borders.

This concept was developed by the European Commission and is laid down in the “IBM Guidelines for the Western Balkans”, which serve as a basis for the consistent implementation of border management related activities in the region, and also provide guidance for the development of national IBM Strategies and Action Plans.

The Albanian IBM Strategy closely follows the IBM Guidelines of the EC and focuses on the four main agencies with border related responsibilities: Border and Migration Police, Customs Service, Phyto-sanitary Service and Veterinary Service, and makes references to a number of other agencies and operators who are active in the field of border management.

The IBM Action Plan contains concrete objectives which are based on the recommendations of the Strategy. Each objective is broken down into actions and each action further divided into activities to facilitate the implementation of the plan. Both, Strategy and Action Plan, are “living documents” and need to be updated on a regular basis.

This publication was prepared by the Albanian State Institutions involved in the area of border management such as Border & Migration Police/Ministry of Interior, Albanian Customs Service/Ministry of Finance, Phyto-Sanitary & Veterinary Services/Ministry of Agriculture under the technical assistance of CARDS Regional IBM Programme, PAMECA, EU CAFAO-Albania & ICITAP.