Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Petro Tsyhykal during his working visit to Lithuania studied experience of the Lithuanian border guard service and told about the plans of the Ukrainian authority.

The press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said that Tsyhykal met Commander of the State Border Guard Service of Lithuania Renatas Požėla and studied the details of their state border guard system.

Tsyhykal said that the State Border Guard Service is improving the system of control over the maritime surface picture and intensively uses maritime border guard, which includes about 70 ships and boats of various projects. According to him, the State Development Program provides for the reform of maritime border guard in accordance with the standards of NATO and the European Union.

"With the aim of updating the ship-boat structure, we plan to modernize the existing ones, as well as build and purchase new project ships and boats. Since May this year we have launched a comprehensive reform of maritime border guard and established a regional maritime border guard administration," he said.

The sides discussed existing strategies aimed at combating smuggling, illegal migration and other types of cross-border crimes, especially organized crime.

Tsyhykal said that thanks to the existing cooperation with Lithuanian counterparts, the operational potential of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has improved and an integrated border security management system has been introduced along with the standards, models and best practices of the EU member states.

He expressed confidence that the high level of cooperation between law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and Lithuania on border security issues will continue to develop in the future.