FRONTEX Chief to discuss illegal immigration in Cyprus

Executive Director of FRONTEX Ilkka Laitinen will pay an official visit to Cyprus on August 5 and 6, accompanied by associates, during which he will hold a series of meetings, focusing on illegal immigration and measures to tackle the problem.

The FRONTEX delegation will meet the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chief of Police and the Head of the Aliens and Immigration Department.

It will also visit Larnaca and Paphos airports, on the southern and the western coast respectively, as well as the Ledra Palace checkpoint, near the UN-controlled buffer zone, which separates the northern Turkish-occupied areas of the island from the southern government-controlled part of the country.

FRONTEX is the European agency for the management of operational cooperation at the external borders of the EU member states.

The Cypriot authorities have repeatedly said that most of the illegal immigrants arrive in the government-controlled areas from the northern occupied part of the country, where the legal government of the Republic is prevented from exercising its jurisdiction as a result of the continuing massive presence of the Turkish military, which invaded Cyprus in 1974.

Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004. It seeks EU assistance to deal with illegal immigration.