OSCE supports border management workshop for border guards and customs officers in Kazakhstan

A two-and-a-half day workshop for border service and customs officials began in Merke, on Kazakhstan's southern border with Kyrgyzstan, on 28 November 2011. The OSCE Centre in Astana organized the seminar in co-operation with the EU/UNDP Border Management Programme for Central Asia, the International Organization for Migration and the border services and customs agencies of Kazakhstan.

The 20 border guards and customs officers from Kazakhstan taking part in the seminar will discuss with experts from Georgia, Finland, Poland, and Russia document inspection and contraband seizure techniques for train and vehicle checks, the use of biometric and other information systems, and integrated border management principles as a means to improve interagency and cross-border co-ordination. Special attention will be paid to border protection techniques and contemporary border management challenges, including threats posed by human, narcotics and weapons trafficking, transnational organized crime, terrorism and illegal migration,  the means to effectively deal with them and good practices in the field.

The seminar is part of the OSCE Centre in Astana's efforts to promote the OSCE border security concept in Kazakhstan. Similar training courses were held last year in Merke and Pavlodar and this year in Aktau.