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The Immigration Department will host the 12th Pacific Rim Immigration Intelligence Conference (PACRIM Conference) to be held in Two International Finance Centre from tomorrow (November 1) to November 3.
The department held a cocktail reception for delegates, local consular officials and other law enforcement agencies this evening (October 31). Director of Immigration, Mr Lai Tung Kwok, gave a welcoming speech at the reception.
"The scale of transnational passenger traffic, and the speed and ease with which they occur, clearly requires close monitoring," he said at the reception. "This is important not only for domestic policy formulation purposes, but also in relation to border control and the prevention and detection of immigration offences, especially illegal migration."
Mr Lai stressed that the department's resolve to combat illegal migration was stronger than ever. "As part of this resolve, it is critical that we work together in a cooperative and positive way. We need to share information, expertise and intelligence and build a network that strengthens our control and law enforcement to keep us ahead in the race," he said. "Our leverage and our strength lie in a coordinated and concerted effort."
The Immigration Department hosted the second PACRIM Conference in 1996. This is the second time Hong Kong will have hosted the conference. The theme for this year's conference is "Resolving Immigration Intelligence into Tactical Actions - from Best Principles to Best Practices Against Illegal Migration".
From the early nineties, eight immigration authorities from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and the US have cooperated in sharing of intelligence among law enforcement jurisdictions. They agreed to host, in turn, the annual international PACRIM Conference whereby senior managers and analysts in the field of immigration and border control from the Pacific Rim region could meet to discuss matters of mutual concern.
To date, there are 12 member jurisdictions in the PACRIM Conference. Macau and Mainland China became member jurisdictions in 1998 and 2004 respectively and Malaysia and Mexico both joined in 2005.
Ends/Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:32
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