OSCE organizes children’s camp to build confidence across borders

A summer environmental camp "Borderline Commonwealth: Issyk-Kul 2014" organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek in co-operation with the State Border Service was opened on 25 July 2014 on the lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan.

More than sixty children from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation will enhance their knowledge in issues related to environment, border, culture and security.

The camp is organized as part of building confidence and strengthening co-operation and understanding between the border services of the four countries. Representatives of the border services of the four countries, the OSCE, as well as mass media took part at the official opening of the camp.

In 2014, the State Border Service and the Centre in Bishkek agreed to expand the scope of the summer camps held. The programme now includes the basics of traditional beliefs of the Kyrgyz people, master classes in arts and crafts, seminars on "Green Pack" (information kit focused on environmental issues), a workshop on traditional Kyrgyz games and sightseeing of the Issyk-Kul region.

“I hope this initiative at the regional level will have a positive impact on strengthening of good neighborly relations between Kyrgyzstan and other states represented by these wonderful children who are the future of their countries,” said Ambassador Sergey Kapinos, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.

Deputy Chairperson of the Kyrgyz State Border Service Talaibek Usubaliev.said: “The Issyk-Kul Lake is a place where friendship, trust and respect are forged between children from different CIS countries – and this is a striking example of cross-border cooperation. I am sure that in the future they will continue to be friends,”, says “I welcome the support from the OSCE Centre in Bishkek to these ideas and its significant contribution to the development of regional co-operation across the borders at all levels.”

Last year, a similar project was implemented with the participation of children from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The summer camp is organized under the OSCE project “Creating Conditions for Sustainable Development and Environmental Security in Kyrgyzstan” managed by the OSCE Centre’s Economic and Environmental Dimension.