From October 3-4, the next round of National Steering Group (NSG) meetings was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. NSG was aimed at reviewing the Programme’s progress for the year and to define plans for the upcoming period. For this purpose, the BOMCA 10 leadership, representatives of the European Union and implementing partners met with the key partners, such as state agencies and international organisations.
In his opening speech, Deputy Project Coordinator Mr. Vladimirs Zaguzovs highlighted the importance of the NSG not only in terms of assessment of already implemented activities, but also its instrumental role in laying the foundations for further cooperation with national partners. Mr. Maris Domins, Regional Manager, praised the efficiency of established communication channels and cooperation mechanisms.
The Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Kyrgyz Republic, Raimonds Vingris said: “Since the launch of BOMCA-10 the region has witnessed important transformations, weather related to developments in Afghanistan, on borders between neighbours and in wider geopolitical setting with Russia’s war against Ukraine. As a consequence, the current meeting is more than just an administrative task. It is an occasion to see the bigger picture and potentially to adapt the project to be able to respond to some of the new challenges that the region and Kyrgyzstan in particular is facing.”
The first day of the NSG in Kyrgyzstan was dedicated to the joint session, followed on the second day by the bilateral thematic consultations, held separately with each of the key national stakeholders (analysis of the post-activity results), international stakeholders (partnership opportunities for the next year) and including an assessment of the previous cooperation.
BOMCA 10 Component leaders have provided some brief information on project implementation in 2022, as well as having presented a conceptual overview of the planned activities for the next period of project implementation.
They reported that out of 93 activities across four thematic areas on regional and national levels, 24 took place in Kyrgyzstan. In 2022, over 450 representatives of the Kyrgyz state agencies and non-governmental organisations participated in the Programme’s tailor-made activities.
Last year, a series of workshops were carried out for the Border Service of the State Committee for National Security and State Customs Service under the Finance Ministry including their training centres on document security and identification and profiling techniques trainings of trainers. Delegation of functions between border guards and customs agencies and distance learning for trainers on Modern teaching methodologies. For the Department of Chemicalization of Plant Protection and Quarantine and the Veterinary service of the Ministry of Agriculture conducted national workshop for veterinary and phytosanitary services in the area of trade facilitation in a form of legal and trade analysis and planning of related measures. The Heads of Investigation Units of the State Committee for National security, General Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry Internal Affairs participated in the study visits and the Heads and experts of K-9 centres further learned about the best practices of the European Union on detection of arms, explosives, ammunition, drugs, precursors and a currency.
It is worth to mention that the results of the Programme’s activities include action points proposed to the national partners in the format of recommendations, guidelines, operating procedures and training manuals. During the meeting, all parties reiterated their mutual interest in effective cooperation to increase achievements and expressed their dedication to the overall priorities and focus on the upcoming activities.