During his visit to Belarus, 13-14 July 2009, IOM Director General,
Mr. William Lacy Swing, visited the Republic of Belarus to discuss
cooperation in migration management and counter trafficking
activities.

The Director General met with the Minister of Interior, Mr.
Anatoliy Kuleshov, and other senior officials, and visited the
International Training Center (ITC) on Migration and Combating
Trafficking in Human Beings, established in 2007 under the auspices
of the Ministry of Interior with support from IOM.  At the
ITC, the Director General delivered a presentation on migration
partnerships to participants of an IOM organized training session
on travel documents security.

IOM’s migration management projects in Belarus include
Assisted Voluntary Returns (AVR), combating trafficking in human
beings, and capacity building in the areas of travel documents,
identity cards, border management, and privacy and data
protection.

The Republic of Belarus became a member of IOM in 2005,
following several years of participation in the work of the
international organization as an observer state.