Frontex praises Cyprus for successful immigration strategy

A Frontex official praised Cyprus for its “successful strategy” on Thursday for how it manages immigration, during a meeting with Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou.

During a visit to the island, head of Frontex Liaison Office for Greece and Cyprus, Grigorios Apostolou, was briefed by Ioannou in detail about the government’s policy which it is implementing on immigration.

The policy focuses on reducing arrivals and increasing returns.

Meanwhile, Ioannou underlined the importance of Frontex in the region and its presence in Cyprus. He said that the tightening of EU border controls by Frontex will contribute to better border surveillance along the Eastern Mediterranean route and prevent irregular arrivals.

An interior ministry press release said the strengthening of cooperation between Europol, Frontex and Eurojust is included in the provisions of the Action Plan for the Eastern Mediterranean and aims, among other things, to combating migrant trafficking rings.

The two officials had the opportunity to exchange views on further strengthening the cooperation of the Republic of Cyprus with Frontex over returns.

Ioannou said Cyprus had implemented a series of measures that made it possible to increase the total number of departures by 66 per cent compared to last year.

Apostolou congratulated the minister on Cyprus’ “commitment and efficiency” in relation to managing immigration. He also conveyed the readiness of Frontex to continue its support to Cyprus and strengthen cooperation for even better results, for the benefit of the Republic of Cyprus and the European Union more broadly.