DUSHANBE, November 2, 2012, Asia-Plus – The graduation ceremony for a ten-day intensive training course on border management awareness co-organized by the OSCE and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) took place at the OSCE Border Management Staff College yesterday.
According to press release issued by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, twenty-four border officers from Afghanistan and Tajikistan received theoretical and practical training on modern techniques to detect smuggled goods, forged documents and to prevent drug trafficking. The course also touched upon risk analysis models, leadership and management skills, the fight against trafficking and money laundering, “green border” surveillance technologies, and matters related to refugees and asylum.
Students also took part in practical exercises on searches of vehicles for contraband and radioactive material, and received toolkits for conducting these searches at their duty posts.
“This course brings together important elements of border security management and is meant to help students use modern methods and technologies to prevent transnational crime affecting our lives,” said Alexander Yeliseyev, Chief of Education of the OSCE Border Management Staff College.
“The interactive and dynamic course also served the purpose of facilitating networking and the professional development of the participants.”
The course is organized jointly by the OSCE Border Management Staff College and the UNDP-implemented EC-funded Border Management Northern Afghanistan (BOMNAF) project.
William Lawrence, BOMNAF Project Manager, said: “The co-operative spirit of our Afghan and Tajik students and the high quality of instruction is a winning combination which already has a positive effect on the management of the shared Afghan-Tajik border and encourages further collaboration.”
Colonel Alauddin Habibi, Operative Commander of the Afghan Border Police, said: “This is an important and timely initiative addressing our concrete needs. Practical exercises enabled us to apply these new techniques to real-time simulations.”
This is the fourth event in the 2012 Border Management Awareness Training series organized in partnership with UNDP. Five similar courses are planned for 2013.
