Antigua Hosts Sub-Regional Workshop

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Thursday, 06 September 2012 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St. John’s - Minister of National Security and Labour, Sen. the Hon. Dr. L. Errol Cort today welcomed delegates from five regional territories to Antigua at a brief Opening Ceremony for the three-day Sub-Regional Workshop and Consultations on Capacity-Building in Travel Document Security and Identification Management, being held at Jolly Beach Resort and Spa.

Antigua and Barbuda through the Ministry of National Security & Labour is hosting the workshop. The Inter-American Commission on Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organisation of American States (OAS) has partnered with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), INTERPOL and the government of Canada to deliver the sub-regional workshop and consultation, which runs until Friday.  

In his feature address, Dr. Cort underscored the importance of capacity building as it relates to local officials being equipped with the skills to readily recognize and detect fraudulent travel documents.

He expressed the view that it was necessary for countries to continuously update anti-fraud procedures and improve on existing fraud detection technologies if they are to stay one step ahead of the criminals.

Minister Cort added that Antigua and Barbuda is currently seeking to upgrade its border management system, in an effort to keep abreast and stay ahead of criminal elements that continually seek to beat the system.  

OAS representative Mr. Jean Ricot Dormeus in his remarks said thanks to efforts such as this workshop, fraudulent multiple IDs, easy forgery of documents and ID tampering will turn into relics of the past. He added that the OAS has been working with governments in the region to modernize the civil registries and document issuance processes.  

The objective of the workshop is to promote the exchange of information and experiences regarding international standards on travel documents, new technology, issuance and control of travel documents along with the improvement and modernization of civil registries and the strengthening of border controls.

Mr. Erik Slavenas, Programme Officer at ICAO also gave brief remarks and started off the sessions with a presentation on ICAO’s role in setting global MRTD Standards and Specifications.

Participants of the workshop have been drawn from a cross section of agencies including Immigration and Passport and Citizenship Departments.

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