Under the regional project Western Balkans Integrated Border Management Capacity Building Facility (WBIBM) supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, a presentation of the Document Examination Support Center (DESC) Initiative was organized in Skopje. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Albania and the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Kosovo*. Since its establishment in 2012, the initiative has helped countries fight transnational organized crime and combat irregular migration through assistance in examining and verifying travel documents.

The presentation of the DESC Initiative was led by Donato Colucci, IOM Senior Border and Identity Solutions Specialist, with the support of Pier Rossi-Longhi, IOM Senior Regional IBM Specialist, and Junaid Arshad Khan, IOM Regional Program Manager.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence