New training programme for border security
The enhanced bilateral engagements between Fiji and the United States of America has unfolded new training and competency development opportunities for the Fijian border officers and frontline inspectors of the Department of Immigration.
This first of its kind training programme held at the Office of the Prime Minister was organised by the Fijian Government and the United States Embassy in Suva. It will complement the Fijian Government’s current strategies on protecting and safeguarding Fiji’s borders by detecting potential risks that arise through fraudulent and illegal travelling through the use of fake viss, fake passports or forged traveling documents.
Attended by 20 officers from the Department of Immigration and two border officers from the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service, the training will enable the officers to diligently carry out their role through effectively examining all the travel documents and to expedite the movements of legitimate travellers while intercepting highrisk travellers.
The one-day training is facilitated by two officials from the US Embassy, Anthony Bogden, Special Agent, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), U.S. Embassy to (Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu) and Erick Whippy.
Speaking at the official opening programme, the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister, Immigration and Sugar Industry Yogesh J. Karan said the training is symbolic of the Fijian Government’s commitment to enhance the Fijian immigration services by (seated in middle) Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister, Immigration and Sugar Industry, Yogesh J. Karan with the facilitators and participants of the Travel Document Examination training programme.
implementing robust strategies for comprehensive border safety and security measures.
PS Karan thanked the training facilitators and he commended the United States Embassy in Suva for its remarkable commitment in providing the training and capacity building programmes and numerous other support in the key development areas. He said work is in progress by the Department of Immigration to organise similar training opportunities through partnership with the Australian
Government. He said that Fiji is appreciative of such great cooperation with its development partners, that is integral to enhancing Fiji’s border control and safety.
PS Karan encouraged the training participants to make the most of the opportunity by sharing information and their experiences and new techniques on border control. He applauded the work of the border officers and spoke to the importance of their role.
“I will share with you a case, whereby our frontline officers from the Department of Immigration identified a high-risk passenger who was travelling with a fake passport of a nationality not of his own. It was our officers who successfully identified that the travel document was non-genuine whilst the few borders he crossed before reaching Fiji, were not able to identify this and he was allowed to transit for a few days in each country before reaching Fiji,” PS Karan said.
He said that Fiji is proud to have introduced the e-passports last year that has advanced security features which recognises the milestone achievements of Fiji in modernizing the immigration services and taking it to a higher level.
“We are working on the second phase whereby we are trying to make our processes paperless, work permits and applications and being able to trace the label free visas and all that. Next week we are finalizing our draft concept and we are assisted by IOM (International Organisation for Migration). Plans are also in place to introduce smart gates at the Fiji’s international airport,” PS Karan added.