AKIPRESS.COM - Eighteen officers from the State Border Service of Turkmenistan completed an OSCE Border Management and Threat Assessment training course, held at the Imamnazar Border Crossing Point on the Turkmen-Afghan border today.

The course was designed to enhance the capacities of personnel from the Border Service in collecting information as well as conducting searches, surveillance, and threat assessments at the border. “This training course is a continuation of joint efforts with our partners in Turkmenistan to reinforce the expertise and practical skills of Turkmen servicemen engaged in ensuring the security of national borders,” said Richard Wheeler, Officer-in-Charge of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat. “This course marks a step forward in the development of our co-operation in this important area of mutual interest and interaction. We are confident that providing technical and other support to the State Border Service of Turkmenistan serves our common goal to maintain regional security within the Central Asia and beyond.”

The course was attended by graduates of the General Border Patrol Course, which was delivered during August-October 2014, and will be followed by a two-week Train-the-Trainer course next month.

The course is part of an OSCE extra-budgetary project on strengthening border guard capacities in Turkmenistan launched last year and implemented with financial support from the governments of Germany, Luxembourg and the United States.