OSCE Programme Office starts its new patrol field capacity building project to train Tajik border troops

On 12 November 2018, the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe started a new project “Patrol Field Capacity Building of the Tajik Border Troops through promotion of Regional Co-operation”. The project is supported by the Federal Republic of Germany and was launched in the Regional Training Centre of Khalkayor, some 230km south of Dushanbe.  

The five-year project aims to deliver specialized tactical trainings to 1,500 Tajik border troops who are part of a recently established border management team named “Special Border Unit under the Border Troops of the Republic of Tajikistan”. The first group of 25 senior Tajik border officers of the Special Border Units will be the first trainees attending a four-week course on Sustained Field Operational Capacities, which also started on 12 November 2018.

The First Secretary of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Dushanbe Maik Sydoruk, the Japanese Ambassador to Dushanbe Hajime Kitaoka and the Commander of the Border Troops for Khatlon Region, General Dilshod Tohirzoda, attended the project launch. Maik Sydoruk underlined that Germany “values international co-operation as the only way to address common challenges and the OSCE is the best placed organization to facilitate such co-operation on a large scale.”

The Japanese Ambassador to Tajikistan, Hajime Kitaoka, underscored the importance of global solidarity in the face of terrorism and all forms of organized crime. He stressed the importance of the OSCE’s work in building the capacities of the Tajik border troops and neighbouring countries.

General Dilshod Tohirzoda expressed high appreciation for the co-operation between the OSCE and the Tajik Border Troops, considering its assistance is “vital in addressing all types of security threats in Tajikistan and beyond.”