International cooperation

In the changed security environment, the role of international cooperation has become increasingly important for the Finnish Border Guard. The focus is on bilateral cooperation with our key partners and the exerting of influence in the European Union with regard to legislative work. As a result of the cooperation, the Finnish Border Guard is better prepared, with access to an intensified exchange of situational information and the possibility to receive bilateral assistance for border management in the changing border security situation.

As a member of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, the Finnish Border Guard has continued to participate in the standing corps operations as obligated. Toward the end of the year, standing corps personnel were more extensively engaged to manage disturbances in border security, and the situation will be monitored jointly with Frontex.

The Russian war against Ukraine has continued to affect coast guard cooperation within the Baltic Sea and Arctic regions. Nevertheless, attempts have been made to promote various forms of collaboration by intensifying the cooperation.

Bilateral and multilateral cooperation

The purpose of bilateral and multilateral cooperation is to maintain security and public order at borders, while also preparing to respond jointly to any challenges related to border security. The Finnish Border Guard has intensified its cooperation with neighbouring countries, especially Estonia, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, with the aim of advancing active information exchange as well as joint preparedness and bilateral support in case of different disturbances within border security.

In the prevailing situation, the cooperation of Finnish and Russian border guard authorities has mainly involved, in accordance with the relevant agreements and plans, work to solve operative issues deemed necessary for border security. Tripartite collaboration between the border guard authorities of Finland, Estonia and Russia as well as Finland, Norway and Russia was suspended in 2023.

Participation in Frontex operations

In 2023, the Finnish Border Guard contributed to Frontex operations in compliance with the obligations set forth by the EU Regulation of the European Border and Coast Guard. Overall, shorter secondments with a maximum duration of 4 months in Frontex operations amounted to a total of 254 operation months. I addition, ten border guards were posted by the Finnish Border Guard to Frontex operations on a longer secondment. The number of operation days continued to increase as a result of the systematic rise of the participation level and due to the increased demand of resources in Frontex operations.

The Finnish Border Guard hosted, on a monthly basis, officials from the Frontex standing corps in the Border Guard Districts along the eastern border and at the airports of Helsinki-Vantaa and in Lapland. In late 2023, the number of standing corps members hosted at our eastern border was increased significantly as part of an effort to increase the border surveillance resources necessary to control the situation at the eastern border. Efficient access to and use of this additional support was possible since the Finnish Border Guard has in recent years, jointly with Frontex, developed its readiness to receive international support. Within this development work, Frontex participated, in autumn 2023, in a large-scale multi-authority exercise concerning illegal immigration, which was led by the Finnish Border Guard.

Coast guard cooperation

The Finnish Border Guard served as chair of the North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum (NACGF) in 2023. The chairmanship of the Finnish Border Guard culminated in a NACGF summit in October 2023, with over 50 chiefs and experts from the national coast guard authorities as participants. Autonomous and unmanned systems were selected as the theme for the Finnish chairmanship period.

The Baltic Sea Region Border Control Cooperation (BSRBCC) forum carried on its activities in a challenging operating environment, following the pandemic and the Russian attack on Ukraine. Cooperation continued without Russia’s participation. The chairmanship period of Poland ended in 2023 with a summit of BSRBCC chiefs at which Finland assumed the leadership of the forum.

The development of the EU’s Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) to improve the exchange of maritime surveillance data continued during 2023. The aim of this initiative is to integrate the national maritime surveillance data systems into a single, shared environment, which facilitates the exchange of surveillance data directly between the IT systems. At the end of the year, the development of CISE proceeded to the phase of the operational exchange of information. The Finnish Border Guard was prepared to begin information exchange via CISE.