From September 12 to 16 2022, the EU-funded projects Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA), Law Enforcements in Central Asia (LEICA) in cooperation with INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) held a five-day Training-of-Trainers (ToT) course on identification and profiling techniques in Ashgabat.

Some 15 officers representing the State Frontier Service, Ministry of National Security, Ministry of Interior, State Migration Service and State Custom Service of Turkmenistan took part in the event. The EUMS experts from Slovakia, Belgium, Latvia and consultant of the UNODC shared their experiences with practitioners.

The participants were introduced to EU best practices on identification and profiling techniques, as well as being informed of a methodology for identification and profiling of foreign terrorist fighters, irregular migrants and drug traffickers. At the conclusion of the training course, the national experts were provided with a ToT methodology and supplementary materials. The nature of the event with participation of various law enforcement agencies helped to enforce the interagency cooperation in the country as well.

At the closing ceremony EU Ambassador to Turkmenistan Diego Ruiz Alonso congratulated participants with the completing the course and underlined the EU’s constant interest to improving the relationship with Turkmenistan, and in that same vein, proposes to the country activities and projects like BOMCA and LEICA to strengthen security and stability, safeguarding border crossings and protection of migration flows.

Similar activities were held earlier in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Training in Turkmenistan resulted in the upskilling of 15 national trainers on identification and profiling techniques.