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19 November 2008 
On 15 January 2008, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified the Agreement between Ukraine and the European Community on the Readmission of Persons. The document defines procedures for the return to Ukraine of its nationals illegally staying in the territory of other states and of illegal migrants who entered other countries via the territory of Ukraine. The Agreement provides for setting up a Joint Readmission Committee that shall monitor the application of the Agreement and prepare proposals for amendments thereto. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued an executive order on 2 April 2008 to establish a Ukrainian part of the Joint Readmission Committee; organizational provision for the Ukrainian part’s work is entrusted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The first meeting of the Joint Committee set up pursuant to the Agreement between Ukraine and the European Community on the Readmission of Persons was held on 9 April this year in Kyiv. It meeting discussed particularly prospects of conclusion by Ukraine of the implementing protocols to the above-mentioned Agreement. In the course of the meeting, the parties exchanged information on possible negotiations and drawing up of the bilateral working protocols as well as considered the status of implementation of the Agreement during the first five months since its having come into force on 1 January 2008. Both parties agreed to hold the second meeting of the Joint Readmission Committee late this year in Brussels. On 18 November this year, the Ukrainian part of the Joint Readmission Committee had a meeting in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to consider preparation for the second meeting of the Joint Committee to be held 28 November in Brussels. The meeting involved representatives of Ukraine’s central executive authorities, in particular the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Border Guard Service, Ministry of Justice, Security Service, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport and Communications. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Vasyl Marmazov, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The working meeting discussed the measures taken to prepare for the implementation of the Agreement between Ukraine and the European Community on the Readmission of Persons. Ivan Rybalko, head of section on counteraction to illegal migration, State Department for Nationality, Immigration and Registration of Natural Persons, MIA of Ukraine, informed on the work done in that field. - MIA, together with other central executive authorities, has been working to prepare and elaborate documents for concluding readmission agreements with 18 states, namely with Belarus, Iceland, Macedonia, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Lebanon, and other countries, - Ivan Rybalko said. – This year, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has already ratified the Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as well as with the Government of the Russian Federation, and the agreements have already been ratified in those states. By now, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has already worked through draft protocols between the Government of Ukraine and the Governments of the Republic of Poland and Estonia on the implementation of the Agreement between Ukraine and the European Community on the Readmission of Persons. A considerable step in this direction consists of the opening this year of two temporary detention centers for illegal migrants in Chernihiv and Volyn oblasts. Currently, the centers can accommodate 277 persons detained for staying unlawfully in Ukraine. Besides, the Ministry of Internal Affairs looks into the issue on establishing five more such centers. For that purpose, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine signed an executive order to transfer three cantonments situated in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Lviv oblasts to the MIA. At the close of the meeting, the participants determined the list of the delegation to take part in the second meeting of the Joint Committee on 28 November in Brussels. 
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