Following decision of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, the OSCE Office in Tajikistan will be transformed into the “OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe” as of 1 July 2017.
According to the decision, the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe will implement programmatic activities across the politico-military, economic and environmental, and human dimensions of the OSCE’s work, with the aim of supporting Tajikistan in implementing OSCE principles and commitments. The Office will work in close cooperation and consultation with the country’s Government.
The OSCE Permanent Council is one of the main regular decision-making bodies of the Organization bringing together representatives of all 57 OSCE participating States. Decisions are made on the basis of consensus.
Recall, Ambassador Tuula Yrjola, Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, has told Asia-Plus in an interview that the new mandate no longer mentions the five field offices that exist in the regions of Tajikistan and this will mean some amount of restructuring for the Office. “However, OSCE Office will continue to be able to implement projects in the field, in the various regions of Tajikistan, in the future as well. It is in the regions and in some of the remoter areas where the Office can continue to support the Government of Tajikistan in addressing vulnerabilities, be they related to socio-economic conditions or countering radicalization,” said Ambassador Yrjola.
According to her, other areas of importance that will continue to keep Office engaged in the future, are, for example, humanitarian de-mining as well as border security and management. The Office has good cooperation with the Border Troops of the Government of Tajikistan, among other government agencies that it works with to support stability and security in the country, she noted.
