OSCE supports Turkmenistan in enhancing security and management of arms and ammunition

ASHGABAT, 24 July 2014 – The management and safe storage of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and conventional ammunition was the focus of an OSCE-supported roundtable discussion for nineteen officials from Turkmenistan’s Defence Ministry, which concluded in Ashgabat today.

The two-day event aimed to support the sharing of experiences in the area of stockpile security, and highlighted mechanisms to improve practices of SALW management and storage.

Experts from the Defence Ministries of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland and Tajikistan presented their countries’ experiences in implementing OSCE-supported assistance programmes. Discussions also touched on the global problem of unplanned explosions at munitions sites and the need for stockpile management and surplus destruction.

In addition to the roundtable discussion, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat and the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre also organized a training course for 25 specialists of the Ministry of Defence of Turkmenistan. The two-day event, which opened today, presented a project on capacity-building in the area of SALW management and ensuring their safe storage. This project has been implemented in a number of the OSCE participating States with support of the European Union.

During the training, participants will learn about a specialized inventory management application developed for the electronic record-keeping of weapons and ammunition.  It will highlight the objectives and functions of the software as well as provide hands-on training on using the application. 

“These two events mark a successful continuation of the OSCE activities that the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, in close co-operation with the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, has been implementing for a decade to assist the Government of Turkmenistan in advancing the security, safety and management of state-controlled stockpiles of SALW and conventional ammunition,” said Richard Wheeler, Political Officer at the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat. “Activities like these offer a unique platform for sharing best practices accumulated by the OSCE and its participating States in the area of arms control.”

Anton Martyniuk, CSBM/Projects Officer at the CPC’s Forum for Security Co-operation Support Section, said: “We look forward to further supporting the practical efforts of the Defence Ministry of Turkmenistan in enhancing physical security and stockpilemanagement. This time, among other things, we offered assistance on transferring a handwritten record-keeping system into electronic format based on state-of-the-art software designed specifically for this purpose – the novelty that we trust could  be effectively applied in day-to-day work of the Ministry specialists.”