The European Union provided 750,000 € for this project from IPA funds, while the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service and the Danish Immigration Service will ensure qualified and experienced experts  for implementation, supported by experts from the Czech Republic, Finland and Slovakia.

The project was officially launched at a press conference that took place on 4 March 2001in Sarajevo. It will run for 18 months and main beneficiaries are BiH Ministry of Security, together with its agencies SIPA, the Border Police and the Service for Foreigners Affairs, as well as BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees

“This project is part of broader EU assistance in support of immigration and asylum policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to BiH, Boris Iarochevitch, noting that the budget allocated to the project from IPA funds is part of a larger initiative worth 1.5 Million €.

“The EU has also provided relevant Ministries with servers, computers, fingerprint enrolment scanners and cars (for the Witness Protection Unit). We are preparing the delivery of 33 biometric passport readers to a number of Border Crossings and the upgrading of the Migration Information System. This overall assistance over the years, of about 7 Million €, is aimed at capacity building to enable BiH institutions to respond successfully to growing challenges in their respective areas of responsibility.” said Iarochevitch. He also said the EU was satisfied with the current progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of asylum and migration, noting that almost all the conditions of the Road Map under “Block 2 Illegal migration, including readmission” have been met.

“BiH wants to be a country of legal not illegal migration, and the EU has recognized that,” said Deputy BiH Minister of Security Mijo Kresic.

Dutch Ambassador Sweder Van Voorst tot Voorst and Danish Ambassador Kirsten Geelan stressed that the assistance that is being provided is intended to help BiH institutions further develop and strengthen their capacities.

The project was presented in detail by Mr. H.C. Van Hoorn, Project Manager from the Netherlands Justice Ministry’s Immigration and Naturalization Service. “Twinning” is an instrument used in the context of EU assistance for candidate countries to strengthen their administrative and institutional capacity in preparation for membership of the European Union. It is also available to potential candidates to help them adapt their administrative structures in order to implement the aquis communautaire and take on the obligations that future membership entails.

“Twinning” not only provides technical and administrative assistance to the beneficiary country but also helps to build a long-term relationship between the old, new and future EU member states and brings the beneficiary country into wider contact with the diversity of administrative practices inside the EU.