On 4-5 October 2018 EASO attended a mission to Skopje in order to meet the representatives of the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (“MARRI”). MARRI is a regional initiative, consisting of Albania, fYROM, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo[1].
The mandate of MARRI is to promote closer regional cooperation and a common, comprehensive and harmonized approach of MARRI Participants in the areas of migration, asylum, border control, visa regime, integration and return of refugees within the ambition to reach international and European standards in these areas. Regional Centre is the executive secretariat of MARRI with the objective to act as a focal point for consultations, dialogue, trainings, information exchange, capacity building and other activities agreed by the MARRI participant countries.
In January 2017, the director of the MARRI Regional Centre visited EASO and agreed on the establishment of cooperation between EASO and MARRI. Within the IPA II project “Regional Support to protection-Sensitive Migration Management in the Western Balkans and Turkey” and the EASO External Dimension mandate, EASO foresees the provision of technical support to MARRI in the establishment of a “regional training hub”. During the mission, the representatives of EASO met with representatives of MARRI in order to discuss the proposed assistance to MARRI in becoming a regional training hub. The representatives of the MARRI Regional Centre welcomed the proposed assistance of EASO to MARRI and further discussion will continue on practical elements of the technical support and future of MARRI as a regional training hub.
[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244(1999) and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.