Between July 22 – 26, 2021 European Union’s Border Management Programme in Central Asia and Afghanistan-Phase 10 (BOMCA-10), held inception meetings with the international stakeholders, active in the areas of border management, trade facilitation and migration management.

According to the European Union Delegation to Tajikistan, the objective of the meetings was to present the new project phase of the Programme and discuss the partnership opportunities to allow better coordination of donor assistance in the border-related domains at national and regional levels. The international organizations briefly introduced their cross-cutting programs and projects in Central Asia and Afghanistan for the period of 2021 – 2025. Next to the meetings with the national counterparts, held in the region in June-July, these meetings are a crucial element of the inception activities of the newly launched phase. Findings of the meetings will be incorporated into the BOMCA planning for 2021-2022 and will pave the way for successful synergies of the thematic activities with efforts of other key stakeholder in the region.

Border Management Programme in Central Asia and Afghanistan 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 EUR 21.65 M for 54 months period. BOMCA-10 aims 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 and Afghanistan.  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 six countries in the region (Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).

BOMCA is the flagship and the largest EU-funded Programme in the region. Since its launch in 2003, 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.