OSCE Centre in Bishkek holds joint training for Afghan and Kyrgyz customs officers

The OSCE Centre in Bishkek held training sessions on vehicle and container searches and border operations for Kyrgyz and Afghan customs officers at the customs point Ak-Jol on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border. Twenty participants from Afghanistan, including three trainers, together with customs instructors from the Training Centre of the State Customs Service of Kyrgyzstan as well as customs officers working at Ak-Jol border point, attended the course.

The session is part of a series of five-week training sessions for customs officers from Afghanistan, which started on 29 March and ends on 29 April. Since the launch of the project, 66 Afghan customs officers have attended the courses.

The courses were organized within the framework of the OSCE Centre’s work to enhance engagement with Afghanistan as stipulated by the OSCE Foreign Ministers in 2007, following a request from Afghanistan for OSCE assistance in the area of border security, police training and combating drug trafficking.