DUSHANBE, June 4, Asia-Plus — On Monday June 4, Mr. Adriaan van der Meer, Head of the European Commission (EC) Delegation to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, visited Tajik Border Officers’ Training School in Dushanbe, which is one of focus areas of the European Union Border Management (BOMCA) and Drug Action (CADAP) Programs in Central Asia, implemented through UNDP.
Suhrob Qahhorov, manager of BOMCA/CADAP programs in Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus that an official ceremony of handover of two renovated buildings and marketplaces at border-crossing posts (BPC) in the Ishkashim district and Khorog to Tajik border troops was scheduled to be held in Gorno Badakhshan Monday but because of bad weather conditions the trip to Gorno Badakhshan was canceled.
“The European Union has provided more than 1 million US dollars for reconstructing and renovating the facilities, including the building of Tajik Border Officers’ Training School in Dushanbe, as well as providing them with furniture and equipment,” Suhrob Qahhorov said.
The overall objective of the Border Management Program for Central Asia (BOMCA) is to secure the gradual adoption of modern border management methods in Central Asia. Modern Border Management aims at two equally important purposes: 1) enhanced border security and 2) facilitation of legal trade and transit.
The overall objective of the Drug Action Program in Central Asia (CADAP) is to foster a development-oriented drug control strategy in Central Asia that ensures a sustained reduction of drug consumption and trafficking in line with European Commission drug strategies: 1) a public health approach to drug demand and 2) an interdiction-based approach to drug trafficking.
The strategy of BOMCA/CADAP Programs takes a long-term, balanced approach, each comprising three core components: 1) policy advice, legal and institutional reform; 2) national capacity building and 3) pilot projects at the borders, for future Government replication with donors.
“Border management will be more efficient in the case of projecting aid strategies on the both sides of the border, therefore, the European Union plans to launch this a program of support for the Afghan Government in the Badakhshan Province,” Qahhorov said.
