The first Border Liaison Office (BLO) on the Uzbek-Afghan border was opened at "Ayritom" border crossing point in May under the framework of the UNODC project "Countering the trafficking of Afghan opiates via the northern route by enhancing the capacity of key border crossings points (BCPs) and the establishment of Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) in Central Asia." Currently there are thirteen BLOs operating on the Kyrgyz-Tajik, Uzbek-Kyrgyz, Uzbek-Tajik, Tajik-Afghan and Uzbek-Afghan borders which were opened by the project aimed at countering drug trafficking/organized crime, building mutual trust in the region and improving the infrastructure of border crossing points.
The main project donor for this particular activity is the Government of Japan, which provided 1,380,000 US dollars through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for it implementation in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The designated Border Crossing Points were refurbished and equipped with the specialized equipment and BLO officers from the respective law enforcement agencies were trained by the project.
At the opening ceremony Mr. Mansurjon Nabiev, the First Deputy Head of the Department of the State Customs Committee of Surkhandarya Region (Uzbekistan), said that BLO activities will facilitate better information exchange as well as contribute to joint actions against drug trafficking and drug related crime.
