On January 25, 2017 MARRI RC Director Tamara Mugosa and representatives of the Regional Center visited EASO Headquarters in Valletta, Malta. The Executive Director of EASO, José Carreira and his team welcomed MARRI RC delegation and briefed on the EASO’s role and main activities with a particular focus on the External Dimension of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and the role EASO has in strengthening asylum and reception capacity in third countries in order to better protect asylum seekers, especially in Western Balkans, Turkey and North Africa.
Mugosa presented MARRI ongoing activities stating aspiration on establishing strategic cooperation between MARRI and EASO for common support in the region. Elaborating on activities regarding the development of MARRI strategy 2017-2020 especially the ambition to develop the document with support of EU agencies and other international partners, she appealed for EASO’s participation in the process by providing suggestions and expertise. Carreira prized initiatives of MARRI and expressed readiness of EASO to support development of MARRI Strategy, as well as to continue collaboration through technical support to ongoing MARRI Projects and joint trainings.
During the technical part of the meeting, the EASO and MARRI RC teams presented their plans and activities by areas of expertise respectively,with the aim to identify common interests for future cooperation, based on constructive discussion. Contact points for future regular communication has been also agreed.