On October 25, a hand-over ceremony of the Border-crossing point (BCP) “Langar” to Tajik Border Forces and Customs Services took place in Ishkashim district, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
According to JICA Office in Tajikistan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Tajikistan, Mr. Hajime Kitaoka, General Mr. Rajabali Rahmonali, Head of Tajik Border Forces, General Izatullo Hurmatzoda, Deputy Head of Tajikistan Customs Service, and Mr. Ken Inoue, Senior Representative of JICA Tajikistan Office welcomed all the participants of the ceremony and cut the ribbons. They stressed the importance of security and stability that is to be promoted through enhanced infrastructure and capacity building of officers working in border-crossing points, as well as livelihoods of the people living in bordering areas.
The BCP “Langar” was newly constructed at the amount of about 1.38 million USD and consists of the main administrative building, barracks with water supply and sewerage systems, warehouse, and inspection zone.
The BCP was constructed under the grant aid project of the Government of Japan “The Project for Promoting Cross-border Cooperation through Effective Management of Tajikistan’s Border with Afghanistan” (BMP), through JICA. The project is implemented by UNDP in direct cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan.
JICA’s BMP Project (the budget is 3.9 million USD) aims at improving economic and security situation of the cross-border regions of Tajikistan and Afghanistan through effective management of border. In addition to the construction of the BCP “Langar”, it supports capacity building for border management and counter narcotics policy formulation, implementation and monitoring, upgrading BCPs “Tem”, “Ruzvai”, “Khumroghi” and “Shogun” and cross-border markets along the Tajik-Afghan border.
The project is expected to enhance capacity of border security agencies for legal flow of people and goods across the Tajik-Afghan border, as well as to improve livelihoods of border adjacent communities through creating trade opportunities for them.
JICA has prioritized promoting regional stabilization in Tajikistan and has been actively implementing other activities along with the BMP under the “Project for Livelihoods Improvement in Tajik-Afghan Cross-border Areas” (LITACA). Through these two projects, JICA has been supporting the development of social and economic infrastructure, conducting trainings, and promoting trade in cross-border markets along Tajik-Afghan border.
JICA began its technical cooperation with Tajikistan in 1993 by inviting Tajik officials to gain knowledge and experience on governance and macroeconomics development. As of January 2018, a total number of participants to JICA’s Knowledge Co-Creation Programs, formerly called the Training Programs, has exceeded 2100 people. JICA Office was established in 2006 in Tajikistan and since then various Grant Financial Assistance and Technical Cooperation projects have been implemented more dynamically, aiming at improving living standard of Tajik people for the sectors such as agriculture and rural development, water supply, health, transport, energy, capacity building as well as SME promotion. JICA’s cumulative investment portfolio in Tajikistan in all sectors comprises 34 projects amounting to more than 345 mln USD (82 mln USD for Technical Cooperation and 263 mln USD for Grant Assistance), including 12 on-going projects.
