On 18 July, IOM Georgia has launched document verification and fraud detection training for the border control officers of the Patrol Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and customs officers of the Revenue Service. The 2,5-day trainings will be held in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi to train the staff from different border crossing points across Georgia and increase their capacities in detecting fraudulent and counterfeit documents at the borders. IOM has invited a Dutch expert, Alex van Duuren to share his experience about document verification, security features, printing techniques and look-a-like detection.

Mr. Massimo Ramanzin, Senior IBM Programme Manager of IOM Mission to Georgia, Mr. Lasha Abramishvili, Head of Border Management and Coordination Division of MIA Patrol Police Department and Mr. Irakli Tevdoradze, Deputy Head of Customs Department of Revenue Service attended the training and addressed the participants.

This activity is part of the IOM project – “Support to Integrated Border Management in Georgia”, implemented under the EU4 Security, Accountability and Fight against Crime in Georgia (SAFE) Programme. The project follows up on comprehensive EU support in the last 10 years, dedicated to strengthening Georgia’s immigration and border management capabilities, to cement compliance with relevant EU-Georgia Agreements and the visa liberalisation benchmarks.