The Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA) holds a regional kick-off meeting on cross-border cooperation: best practices and outlook for Central Asia.The meeting aims to raise awareness of the state beneficiaries on the cross-border cooperation schemes and benefits of such cooperation in particular areas. During the meeting the participants will take part in the focus group discussions moderated by the European Union experts, which will allow to define the priority areas the BOMCA 10 Programme will focus on in each beneficiary country on a given cross-border cooperation topic.Upon completion of the meeting the participants will be better aware of the cross-border cooperation schemes and benefits of this approach that could be applicable for their institutions and areas of work and will identify priorities and gaps that could be addressed through the support of BOMCA 10. The outcomes of the discussions will be included to the project documents paving the way for the implementation of the capacity-building activities and initiatives throughout 2022 and 2023.
BOMCA is the flagship and the largest EU-funded Programme in Central Asia. Its current 10th phase (BOMCA 10) has started on April 1, 2021 for the period of 54 months with the budget of 21.65 million Euros. BOMCA 10 is implemented by the consortium of border management institutions of the selected EU member states and International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) led by the State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia. The Programme aims to enhance security, stability and sustainable growth in the region, while supporting cross-border cooperation and improving living conditions for people in the border areas of Central Asia. Thematically, BOMCA 10 covers four components: institutional development of border management agencies, improvement of detection capacities, trade facilitation, and improvement of cross-border cooperation. Geographically, the project covers all five countries of Central Asia.