IOM's Liaison Office in China has begun a specialist one-week
training in Fraudulent Travel Document Examination for 30 senior
Chinese immigration and consular officials under the framework of
its Capacity Building for Migration Management (CBMM) in China
project.

The workshop, held in the northern city of Harbin, is supported
by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Ministry
of Public Security (MPS.) It is the first of its kind and reflects
China's growing interest in building the capacity of its migration
management staff to comprehensively manage inward and outward
regular and irregular migration flows. 

The training, provided by IOM experts and specialists from the
Portuguese Border and Aliens Service (SEF) and the German Federal
Police, will introduce senior document examiners from the high
immigration frontier inspection posts of Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Xiamen to international best practices in the
inspection and identification of fraudulent travel documents.

"This workshop promotes the sharing of international and
European experience in travel document security and secure
processes of passport and visa issuance. It also offers a forum for
European and Chinese immigration officials to identify areas where
they can expand cooperation to combat the use of fraudulent
documents in cases of migrant smuggling and human trafficking,"
said Head of the IOM Liaison Office in China Thomas
Sinkovits. 

Topics covered by the training will include European technical,
administrative, and legislative practice for the design and
issuance of biometric passports and visas, planning specifications
for electronic passports, and document analysis technology to
support China's own development of national travel documents,
Sinkovits added. 

Director Yang Xiaokun of the International Department of the
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the workshop as "an
excellent opportunity for Chinese and European immigration
counterparts to share information." He reaffirmed China's
commitment to further expand cooperation with IOM and European
Union on migration-related issues.

During the training, IOM will also launch the Chinese
translation of IOM's Passport Examination Procedure Manual. The
manual is designed for use by frontline Chinese immigration and
consular officials and promotes a standardized approach to
inspection and identification of fraudulent travel
documents. 

Since 2007 IOM and the International Labour Organization (ILO)
have been jointly implementing the CBMM project, which is
principally funded by the European Commission under the AENEAS
Programme, with co-funding from the Italian Ministry of Interior
and the UK Border Agency. 

For further information, please contact:

Kieran Best

IOM Beijing

Tel +86 5979 9695 #203

E-mail: "mailto:kgormanbest@iom.int">kgormanbest@iom.int