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.