Head of EU border support mission announced

Tripoli, 23 March 2013:

An expert on international border security from Finland, Antti Hartikainen, is to lead the European Union’s civilian Common Security and Defence Policy Mission on border security in Libya, Finland’s Foreign Ministry has announced.

At present Hartikainen is the director general of the Finnish customs service. He was also a colonel in the Finnish Border Guard and has held a number of EU roles, including working as integrated border management advisor to Armenia.

“He has extensive experience of international border security cooperation, civilian crisis management tasks and customs operations,” said a spokesman at Finland’s Foreign Ministry.

The civilian mission, which was announced in January, will work with the Libyan authorities to offer a broad range of military support to help the country secure and manage its borders. In the short term, it will help boost security and, in the longer term, will help Libya to develop a strategy for sustainable border management. [/restrict]