Yesterday, EULEX IBM Advisor, Alan Wilson participated in the third Quarterly Southern Border Initiative Meeting sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Export Control and Related Border Security Program (EXBS) and hosted by Kosovo Border Police and Customs in Pristina.

The goal of this initiative is to establish a permanent Cross – Border Working Group consisting of border security agencies from Albania, Kosovo, FYROM and Montenegro in order to combat illicit cross-border trafficking, transnational crime, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and advanced conventional weapons, and terrorism.

The meeting was also attended by representatives from EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Program and focused on the need to utilize intelligence and risk analysis capacities in border security operations, enhancing inter-agency and cross-border cooperation, the importance of regional training events, information sharing, Advanced Passenger Information System, and interfacing with regional and EU information data bases.  Participants also visited the Kosovo National Center for Border Management.