Management of border crossing points located along transit corridors in Central Asia discussed at OSCE regional workshop in Turkmenistan

An OSCE-organized regional workshop on the management of border crossing points located along transit corridors in Central Asia, held in a blended format, took place from 4 to 6 March 2025 in Ashgabat. The workshop brought together, online and in-person, officials from the five Central Asian countries’ border security and customs management, migration, law-enforcement, veterinary, phytosanitary and sanitary epidemiological services and agencies.

The Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, representative of the State Frontier Service of Turkmenistan and Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Embassy of Germany in Turkmenistan delivered opening speeches.

In his address at the opening of the regional event, John MacGregor, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, said: “The OSCE supports the efforts of the government of Turkmenistan to foster greater bilateral and regional co-operation among border, customs and migration services, as well as law-enforcement, veterinary, and sanitary agencies of the participating States by promoting the exchange of best practices on management of border crossing points, integrated or co-ordinated border management, and data sharing.”

“Whereas there is an increasing need for connectivity and trade in order to improve our economies, it is important to ensure the right balance between enhancing border security, focusing on the evolving threats and the integrated border management strategies employed to manage them while fostering economic growth and increasing trade facilitation,” added MacGregor.

The regional event served as a platform to provide concrete examples from across the region and beyond on improving efficiency of border crossing points and security of borders, thereby facilitating trade and transport operations. Additionally, the workshop shared best practices in the field of Integrated Border Management (IBM) to support national authorities in further improving their IBM strategies and implementation plans that support efficient and effective inter-agency cooperation and co-ordination among all relevant stakeholders. Finally, it presented international organizations’ practical examples of counterterrorism measures.

The event brought together leading experts from the United Kingdom, OSCE Secretariat’s Border Security and Management Unit, United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT)’ Countering Terrorist Travel (‘CT Travel’) Programme, and EU BOMCA-10 Programme.  

The United Nations Countering Terrorist Travel (‘CT Travel’) Programme provided an overview of the legal framework, areas of support and the technical assistance available to the Central Asian Member States, as well as the main challenges in the Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Records (PNR) implementation.   The CT Travel Programme was launched in 2019 to support Member States in responding to the growing threat posed by the movement of foreign terrorist fighters.

The regional workshop was organized within the framework of the Centre’s extrabudgetary project “Strengthening State Border Service Capacities of Turkmenistan” and financially supported by the Government of Germany.