We concentrated on sharing experience to maintain high level of border protection in the future too – underlined Mr. Sándor Pintér, Interior Minister in his opening speech of the 20th International Border Police Conference.

The first International Border Police Conference was organized in 1993 at the initiative of the Hungarian Border Guard – said Mr. Sándor Pintér. We can look back on a successful period of 20 years as the conferences provided an opportunity for the negotiations of the border police leaders and contributed to the strategic cooperation between the organizations. – emphasized the Interior Minister.

The first International Police Border Conference afforded a unique opportunity for the former socialist countries at the border of the European Union and for the Member States of the Soviet Union to meet – highlighted Mr. Sándor Pintér and added: the main goal of the previous conferences was to discuss border security and relating issues. “Exchange of experiences helped to fight against illegal migration, to combat cross-border terrorism activities and to tackle drug trafficking” – stated the Interior Minister.

The European Union wishes to promote border security in the countries which lie to the east, south-east and south of it and the conference contributed significantly to this activity – said Mr Sándor Pintér.

International Border Police Conference is only one initiative of the Hungarian Border Guard. “We have been involved in the border security development process of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia for many years, in a context of cooperation we are part of the international administration in Kosovo” – informed Mr Sándor Pintér and added: based on the experience of a Hungarian expert group which has been working in Central Asia since 2007, model of integrated border security drawn up by Hungary became a government programme in Kyrgyzstan.

Border security guards from 42 countries attended the two-day long conference in Budapest. Interior Minister and József Hatala, Commissioner of the Hungarian National Police awarded those who significantly contributed to the success of the conferences over the last twenty years.

(kormany.hu)