The EU-funded Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA 10) starts its National Steering Group meetings where jointly with the beneficiaries it reviews milestones reached in the past year as well as agrees on plans for the final year of implementation.

The steering group meetings, entrusted with oversight of the overall project implementation per country, are the key monitoring mechanism of the BOMCA implementation at the national level. Not only they take stock of results and plans under each thematic area, but they are also essential in placing achievements in a wider context of the impact the project has made to date and ensure the upcoming actions contribute to maximising it.

National Steering Group for Kazakhstan, held between September 9-10 in Astana, opened the series of the meetings.  

In her welcoming, H.E Aleška SIMKIĆ, EU Ambassador to Kazakhstan, underlined strengthening of established partnership in the region.

“We are meeting at a time of heightened interest from both the Central Asian governments, including Kazakhstan, and the European Union, in deepening our established partnerships. This collaboration is crucial as we implement the modalities of the EU Strategy on Central Asia, adopted in 2019. This strategy emphasizes the expansion of integrated border management, the fight against organized crime, and the combat against irregular migration. The BOMCA Program plays a pivotal role in these efforts on behalf of the EU, and our shared objectives are clearer than ever”, - she said.

Mr. Aslan Makhambetov, representative of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan on behalf of Kazakh Government expressed its gratitude to the European partners for their efforts to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and Kazakhstan in the field of border management. He also noted that the EU is one of the main political and economic partners of Kazakhstan, which cooperation is actively developing in all areas within the framework of an agreement on enhanced partnership, including security issues.