OSCE Centre in Ashgabat

Border security and management

The Centre assists Turkmenistan in building the capacity of state law-enforcement institutions to counter illegal drugs and arms trafficking, and efficiently combat transnational crime and terrorism, by providing specialized advice and practical training, and by sharing best practices.

Among completed projects, the Centre provided training programmes for customs and border officials from Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. As part of the Customs Assistance Project, customs officials from both countries were trained in risk assessment, profiling, targeting, and selection and search techniques.  Moreover, the Border Assistance Project at the Imamnazar border crossing point provided training modules to border officials from Turkmenistan and Afghanistan in the core competencies of tactical patrolling and surveillance. The Centre also organizes training courses on travel document security assessment for law-enforcement officials throughout the country.

In 2011, the Centre assisted the State Customs Service in establishing a fully-equipped library with multimedia resources at the Customs Training Centre.

Confidence and security building

The Centre builds on an established strategic dialogue with the host country to promote OSCE confidence and security-building measures, and facilitates Turkmenistan's engagement with other participating States in multilateral security initiatives.

The Centre has continued to organize workshops to discuss implementation mechanisms for the 1999 Vienna Document, joint efforts to combat the illicit arms trade, efficiently managing surpluses of arms and ammunition, and in the secure stockpiling of small arms, light weapons, and conventional ammunition.  The Centre has also organized training trips to the Verification Centre of the German Armed Forces for arms control officers from Turkmenistan.

Police education

The Centre works closely with the Ministry of Interior and Turkmenistan’s Police Academy to support the country’s police reform. The Centre conducts activities to build the professional capacities of police officials and to enhance basic police training and curriculum development.  The Centre supported a study tour to Lithuania and a roundtable meeting in Turkmenistan for representatives of Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Interior and the Police Academy, to discuss different models and mechanisms of managing and delivering police education courses and training programmes, as well as selecting and recruiting police staff.