The Opening conference of the EU Twinning project “Strengthen the capacities of the General Inspectorate for Migration for the implementation of the migration management and asylum legislation in line with EU acquis” was held on the 11th of June in Chisinau. This project, with a total budget of EUR 1,25 million, is funded by the European Union and is being implemented by the Swedish Migration Agency as the lead partner and the Centre of International and European Economic Law of the Hellenic Republic and General Inspectorate for Immigration, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Romania, as junior partners. The General Inspectorate for Migration, a subdivision within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, is the beneficiary institution of this project.

Ms. Diana Salcuțan, State Secretary of Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, H.E. Ambassador Jānis Mažeiks, Head of the Delegation of the EU to the Republic of Moldova, H.E. Ambassador Katarina Fried, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden in the Republic of Moldova and Mr. Alexandru Mosgoreanu, Minister Plenipotentiary of Romania, addressed the audience with welcoming remarks and warm messages, reaffirming the support to the Republic of Moldova on its path toward EU membership.

The Moldovan officials stressed the importance of the project in the national context and appreciated the participation of a consortium formed by 3 Member States, which allows the examination of 3 approaches to migration processes and the holding of expert-level consultations on the implementation process of the EU acquis.
In the second part of the conference, Ms Katarina Mlekov, project leader from the Swedish Migration Agency and Ms. Tatiana Ciumaș from the General Inspectorate of Migration presented the project and emphasised the importance of the project in further strengthening of the capacity of the General Inspectorate for Migration and other relevant institutions for implementation of migration and asylum policy and procedures in line with the Union acquis.

High Representatives of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, Embassies of the Kingdom of Sweden, the Hellenic Republic and Romania, representatives of numerous international organisations and state institutions of the Republic of Moldova attended the event.

The Twinning Migration EU-MD Project comes as a support for the Ministry of Internal Affairs in achieving the EU agenda, especially on Chapter 24, the Roadmap on Rule of Law, which includes the commitments assumed in the field of migration and asylum as well as the preparation for the transposition of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.