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The European Union has provided front-line document inspection equipment to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) to support the Georgian government in combating irregular migration and cross-border crime

At an event at Tbilisi Airport, the EU and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) donated 60 pieces of advanced border management equipment to the MIA, including document inspection equipment, enabling passport control officers at key border crossing points in Georgia to do a quick check of the security features of passports and other travel documents. In case of doubt, they can then refer passengers to a more thorough second-line inspection and examination.

The document inspection equipment produced in the United Kingdom is a triple function document examination instrument, with an ultraviolet lamp mounted above the working area for checking UV security features, a white lamp mounted behind a diffusing window for the examination of transmissive features, and a halogen lamp mounted at the rear of the working area for the examination of dry stamps and indented or erased writing.

The donation is part of an EU-funded support programme which includes providing equipment valued at €10 million (GEL 34 Million) to the Georgian authorities for use in areas of migration and border management. The MIA’s second-line inspection capacities have been upgraded over the past years with EU support, to the extent that all major border checkpoints in Georgia possess sophisticated equipment that allows officials to check the veracity of travel documents and take adequate measures if fraud has been detected.