OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and Tajikistan outline priorities for co-operation in 2018

DUSHANBE, 10 August 2017 – The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe and its main counterparts from the Government of Tajikistan held the 11th Task Force Meeting today to agree on priorities of co-operation for 2018.

Under the new mandate, which came into force on 1 July 2017, the co-operation between the Office and the Government of Tajikistan will continue on a broad range of issues. These will include areas such as border management, police reform, environmental education, good governance, rule of law and gender.

The meeting explored opportunities for the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe to assist Tajikistan in its efforts to ensure security and stability. This will be done in accordance with the OSCE’s concept of comprehensive security and in line with the Government’s development priorities, as stated in the National Development Strategy and other sectoral strategy documents. The participants particularly focused on how the Office can increase its interaction with counterparts in all phases of project implementation.

Idibek Hafizovich Qalandar, Head of International Organizations Department of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “Given the new mandate of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, we are expecting that the OSCE will pay due attention to the needs of the country, especially as regards capacity building of governmental structures. In addition, there is a need for evaluation of the project implementation process aimed at improvement of activities of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe.”

Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe Tuula Yrjölä, said: “We are interested in developing our co-operation with the Government and people of Tajikistan, next year and in the years to come. We look forward to working more closely with our Tajik partners. We will strive to ensure that our support is directly related to the needs identified by the Host Country and is in line with the commitments and principles that Tajikistan shares as a participating State of the OSCE. The Office will  ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of its activities by focusing on our core strengths, in particular capacity building and expert advice in the sectors identified in  the mandate.”

The annual Task Force Meeting has been taking place since 2007.