BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 13
By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:
One of OSCE’s flagship projects aims at strengthening capacities of Turkmenistan’s State Border Service, which also involves Afghanistan, Head of OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, Ambassador John MacGregor told Trend.
As an OSCE Partner for Co-operation, Afghanistan benefits from the OSCE field presences in Central Asia, including the Centre in Ashgabat, particularly given that the two countries share a common frontier, MacGregor said.
“We organize regular workshops that bring together a staff of border services, which contributes to enhancing their transboundary co-operation. These events provide an opportunity for them to improve their skills in patrolling procedures and surveillance techniques, as well as helping them to establish cross-border contacts and informal networks,” he said, adding that the OSCE’s assistance to Afghanistan is part of the efforts to contribute to security and stability in the Central Asian region.
As MacGregor noted, it is also worth mentioning its long-term cooperation with the Turkmen State Energy Institute in Mary (TSEI), which features a variety of joint activities addressing energy diplomacy, alternative energy, and other topics.
“Last year, we inaugurated the Centre for Energy-Saving Technologies at TSEI to support the implementation of the National Programme for Energy Saving 2018–2024,” he added.
“I am also pleased to note the expanding co-operation between Turkmenistan and OSCE institutions in the human dimension. Recently, the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan and the Office of the HCNM signed a Memorandum of Co-operation to promote multilingual and multicultural education,” added the head of the center.
He also added that OSCE has also assisted with the implementation of Turkmenistan’s National Human Rights Action Plan for 2016-2020 related to media freedom. For this, OSCE facilitated the development of a university curriculum for journalism faculties on freedom of expression and prepared a pool of national trainers on the rights and duties of journalists.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva