After 22 months of implementation, Prometheus Project ended on September 25. Closing ceremony was held in Tbilisi on Thursday 23 September. This final conference allowed the various stakeholders and partners to discuss intensively about the project, its origins, its implementation, its achievements and outcomes, but also to talk about the future prospects. Indeed, the establishment of a follow-up to the project, was discussed at length during the conference as well as in subsequent meetings with the Georgian authorities and with the EU Member States police attachés based in Tbilisi.
The event was attended by HE Mr. Carl Hartzell, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, HE. Mr. Diego Colas, Ambassador of France to Georgia, and by representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, including Mr. Vazha Siradze, Director of the Patrol Police Department and Ms. Ekaterine Machavariani, Director of the International Relations Department. Besides the project team, a delegation from France (with Civipol and the Ministry of Interior (Border Police Central Directorate and International Cooperation and Security Directorate)) sat next to representatives from various international organizations: ICMPD, IOM and FRONTEX. All the interlocutors underlined the importance and the success of the Prometheus project, which is part of the strengthening of cooperation between Georgia and the EU. During these 22 months, although strongly impacted by the pandemic, the following actions were led:
- 200 Patrol Police officers trained in behavior detection of people’s behavior, document fraud (for 1st and 2nd lines) and Schengen rules by French, Spanish and Latvian experts;
- Organization of a 2-day workshop, in collaboration with IOM, on combating irregular migration criminal networks, for 20 Prosecutors and Criminal Police officers (experience sharing by French and Spanish judicial police officers);
- Deployment of two officers, one Georgian and one French, respectively to France and Georgia for several months to assist their counterparts in airport checks;
- Organization of a high-level study visit of a delegation from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to Paris to meet and discuss with DCIS and DCPAF partners;
- Purchase and donation of equipment to the Patrol Police Department, according to the expressed needs;
- Creation of a unified document listing the conditions for entry into each Schengen State;
- Information exchange and strengthening of links with Georgian authorities
Delivery of equipment for the Patrol Police Department, according to the needs expressed by the Georgian authorities, was handed over by the project team to the Georgian authorities during a reception at the Patrol Police headquarters. Mr. Guram Davitashvili, Deputy Director of the Patrol Police Department, Mr. Gigla Saralidze, Head of the Patrol Police of Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batoumi airports and Ms. Nana Avaliani, Deputy-Head of the Project Management Division of the International Relations Department, attended the reception.
