DUSHANBE, November 12, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- A one-month refresher training course for drug detecting dogs and their handlers, border guards from the Tajik Border Force, is finishing tomorrow. 

According to the UNDP Dushanbe Office, the course is funded by the European Union’s Border Management in Central Asia (BOMCA) Program.

The training course was conducted by Kazakh experts from the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan.

Twelve drug detecting dogs of the Tajik Border Force from locations at distant border areas in Sughd, Khatlon and Gorno Badakhshan were trained in Dushanbe at the Dog Training Center of the National Drug Control Agency (DCA). The DCA facilities were provided at no cost to BOMCA or the Border Guards as a contribution to the national dog training component.

All dogs have been vaccinated against disease, medically treated, and professionally re-trained according to the latest international standards. Dog handlers from the Border Guards and the DCA have also been re-trained and re-acquainted with best EU practices in dog training.

The course will help handlers and their dogs fulfill their daily operational duties more efficiently and professionally.

In the framework of its BOMCA assistance program, the European Union helps foster Institutional Reform in border management, strengthens training capacities in Central Asia, and enhances infrastructure capacities along trade and transit corridors in Central Asia.

The BOMCA Program is implemented by UNDP.