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Speech of H.E. Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst at the Opening of the International Workshop on Integrated Border Management

23.09.2026 Press and information team of the Delegation to EGYPT
Speech by Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst
© IOM

Good morning,

I’m happy to see so many participants coming from different countries and diverse backgrounds. 

I’m also very grateful for the organisers. To hold this gathering in Egypt is excellent; Egypt has so much to offer and to show, and to share this experience with all of you, I’m sure it will be extremely useful, because this the whole idea; we need action.

We hope that you will leave this event with new ideas on different ways of working, more energy, methods and approaches you have not - as yet - adopted in your respective countries. 

It’s wonderful to bring together partners from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the European Union. 

I also welcome Ambassadors from EU Member States, Denmark and Spain, other Ambassadors and representatives from EU Member States. 

Today we all feel surrounded by many threats… From Egypt we look at the East, the Gulf, Iran, we look at the Horn of Africa, the Sahel. The speakers before mentioned the full cycle.

Security has become an absolute priority. Despite everything else we need to work on, we need to have the ability and the capability to protect our borders, our institutions, everything we worked on for so many years. When we talk about smuggling migrants, we mainly talk about non state actors. We have to be far better prepared to address what non state actors are doing across the region. It should be an absolute priority for all of us. Of course, addressing root causes for migration is a key approach, but today we are discussing mainly smuggling of migrants.

Welcome to all

Ambassador Neveen El-Husseiny, it’s so good to see you, and I want to congratulate you on your new position. We look forward to working with you and with the whole Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It’s very important to see the guidance from the Ministry in terms of the international outreach and all the work you’re doing with the European Union. I hope you do this work with the EU in all the countries represented here. I believe the partnerships we have as EU, mainly through IOM and other UN agencies, funds and programmes, governments, civil society, I hope it really is bearing fruit. Looking forward to work with you, Ambassador. 

Major General Ayman Shebl I truly appreciate your words. When we talk about migration, we need to get together and look at the full circle and we take a rights-based approach. For us, our cooperation here in Egypt with the Ministry of Defense is very important as well as our cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. The biggest challenge is to have representatives from different governmental departments work together. That’s a challenge for the European institutions, too. I have colleagues here from HQ, from our Directorate General HOME. On migration all departments need to sit together and come to an agreement on where we are heading. It’s a challenge, but it’s very important, and that’s the whole idea of today’s workshop.

Mr. Othman Belbeisi, you can be proud of your team, not only here in Cairo but all IOM Representatives from the countries present here today. We all know what to do, but when we listen to each other, I can see we are on the same line of thought, on the same way of prioritising, on the same way of working. I want to thank IOM for all the work we’re doing together in this regard. 

We, as EU, fully subscribe to the priorities mentioned by the speakers before me. Migrant smuggling does not respect any of our administrative boundaries, our national jurisdiction or institutional mandates. 

The recruitment of a migrant:

  • may take place in one country,

  • the organisation of a journey in another

  • the movement of money through a third, 

  • and the final border crossing somewhere else.

That’s why as European Union, twenty-seven Member States, we decided to work together, and we do it with our partners, who are here today. You cannot solve these issues alone – it’s impossible. You cannot protect your borders on your own.

I believe it’s good that we have learned how to share information from border and immigration authorities better together, how to learn to trust each other. That can only be by regularly working and exchanging. 

I very much like the concept note for this gathering and I just want to highlight a few important figures.

In 2023, irregular border crossings at the EU’s external borders reached around 380,000, the highest level since 2016. The figure then declined to 178,000 in 2025.

The fact that the figures go down is not good in itself, because the routes change constantly. That’s why we have to remain agile to make sure that we address the real challenges

And then there is a human story behind every statistic. That’s why the rights-based approach is important – thank you to colleagues from Egypt focusing very much on the rights-based approach.

Once we understand this better: why people do it, the rights-based approach becomes only natural. We had a lot of debates in the EU but you have to break the figures down. There are many people who come through a complete regular way, fully entitled. We are working in Egypt on legal pathways for migrants and international cooperation is indispensable. 

The Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling brings together EU Member States, partner countries and international organisations around a common, whole-of-route response. This approach is also reflected in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Pact is important to have all Member States looking at one direction together. And it works.

With Egypt, we are translating this commitment into practice through initiatives such as the EU–Egypt Working Arrangement with Europol and many more.

There’s a lot of regional initiatives such as EU4Border Security, ROCK and HIMAYA.

I hope you will be coming out with more ideas on:

  • How can we share information faster, investigate across borders, and better prepare joint operations?

  • How can we make better use of existing regional and international mechanisms?

  • And, above all, how can we strengthen operational effectiveness while keeping the protection of migrants at its core?

It’s ambitious… because it’s necessary. As European Union, we will always be there to work to protect people, to make sure our borders are protected, our people are safe. It’s more needed than ever. Thank you.