Twelve officers from Turkmenistan's State Customs Service and State Agency for Combating Drugs, and two from the State Customs Committee of Uzbekistan participated. The course provided a good opportunity to build relationships and develop cross-border cooperation between the officials of the two countries.

"This is an example of successful co-operation on many levels - intra-agency, inter-agency, cross-border and international - to improve border security and facilitate legitimate trade between good neighbours," said Jonathan Trumble, OSCE Customs Adviser who delivered the training course.

During the course, the participants worked on: customs integrity, risk analysis, the OSCE Border Security and Management Concept and International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods. Practical exercises were conducted at the DashoguzAwtoyollary customs post near the Turkmen-Uzbek border.

Next week another twelve officers will participate in a similar training course in Ashgabat. Both courses are part of the wider OSCE effort to help strengthen the capacity of border agencies and combat drug trafficking in Central Asia.