On 25 November, the Regional Office of BOMCA was officially opened in Bishkek in order to facilitate implementation of the programme at the national and regional levels.

The ribbon was cut by General Normunds Garbars, Head of the State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia and Programme Coordinator, and Mr. Borut Eržen, ICMPD Senior Programme Manager. Representatives from Riga Technical University and the State Border Guard of the Republic Latvia also attended the opening and shared the joy of this important milestone with the BOMCA team.

In his opening speech, General Garbars stressed the role of the office for the programme. “We are proud to celebrate the inauguration of the office and the start of ninth phase of BOMCA. I would like to thank the whole team and wish all of us a smooth and fruitful programme implementation”, he said.

Set up for the implementation period of the ninth phase of the programme, the office hosts national and international staff who will facilitate implementation of the programme. The role of the office is two-fold: the team in Bishkek will facilitate activities in Kyrgyzstan as well as coordinate programme activities at the regional level, thus providing support to the country offices in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.