On November 22, 2021, at one of the sessions of the 17th EU-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting co-chaired by the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell held in Dushanbe, Maris Domins, Regional Manager of the Latvian State Border Guard led Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA) informed about the achievements of the previous phase of BOMCA and shared plans for 2021 – 2022. At the meeting, the EU informed about its priorities in the area of regional cooperation in line with the EU Strategy for Central Asia released in 2019: resilience, prosperity and regional cooperation.
BOMCA programme has also started contribution in enhancing the Tajik-Afgan border and procured the equipment for the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan. In total, equipment worth of 11,000 EUR was procured, i.e. the solar batteries, notebooks and printers, intended for use at one of the crossing points. The handover of the equipment is planned on 30 November 2021.
Border Management Programme in Central Asia is funded by the European Union and implemented by the Consortium of border management institutions in the EU Member States institutions and ICMPD, led by the State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia. The project started on 1 April 2021 with a budget of 21.65 M EUR for 54 months period. BOMCA-10aims at enhancing security, stability and sustainable growth in the region, while supporting cross-border cooperation and improve living conditions for people living in the border areas of Central Asia. Thematically, the project covers four components: institutional development of border management agencies, improvement of detection capacities, trade facilitation and improvement of cross-border cooperation. Geographically, the project covers five countries in the region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
BOMCA is the flagship and the largest EU-funded Programme in the region. Since its launch in 2003, the its various phases have focused on capacity building and institutional development, developing trade corridors and facilitation of trade, improving border management systems and fighting drug trafficking across the Central Asia region. Each new phase of BOMCA, including the ongoing one, was designed to gradually build upon and increase the results achieved during the preceding phases.