On April 10th-12th, Bishkek hosted an EU expert team, who aimed to assess the strategic development of Integrated Border Management (IBM) in the Kyrgyz Republic. N. Garbars, Chief of Latvian State Border Guard and Coordinator of BOMCA 9, together with Ingrida Gulbe Otanke, Chief of Latvian Customs Service, discussed border management strategies and the development thereof in Kyrgyzstan.
During their Mission, the experts held a series of bilateral meetings with management from the Border and Customs Services and the Security Council of the Kyrgyz Republic, and conducted a two-day workshop on opportunities for implementation of IBM in the Kyrgyz Republic for managerial level representatives of all the agencies involved in border security and protection. Directions for further development of the IBM system in Kyrgyzstan and concrete suggestions on modernisation of the current IBM Plan of Action were identified.
Based on the Mission’s findings, practical recommendations will be developed on strengthening sustainable coordination between all border security actors on a strategic level.