DUSHANBE, 20.06.2019. (NIAT Khovar) – A regular plenary meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) took place yesterday in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

Chaired by Tajikistan, the meeting was dedicated to the OSCE projects in Central Asia on the management of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and stockpiles of conventional ammunition (SCA), reported the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The keynote speaker, Director of the Department of the Engineering Corps, General Staff of Armed Forces of Tajikistan, Major General Sayorabek Bachabekzoda, talked about the implemented projects involving demining and the destruction of surplus of SALW and SCA in Tajikistan.

Bachabekzoda delivered a comprehensive presentation about the experience of cooperation between the military structures of Tajikistan and the OSCE and other partners, which resulted in successful implementation of the Program of the SALW and SCA Management in Tajikistan (2004-2009).

Approximately 26,000 SALW and 30 tons of SCA have been destroyed within the framework of the program. In addition, nine new arms depot and 60 arms rooms for SALW and SCA have been built and renovated.

“Tajikistan is currently cooperating with the OSCE on launching an electronic control system of stockpiles of light weapons and ammunition in the Ministry of Defense,” informed Bachabekzoda.

Commending the OSCE’s contribution to the implementation of the National Program on the Humanitarian Demining in Tajikistan, Bachabekzoda noted that since 2009 this process has led to the creation of the Humanitarian Demining Сompany, which operates under the Tajik Ministry of Defense.

As of now, the company has cleared more than three square kilometers of land, has found and destroyed more than 16,000 anti-personnel mines and more than 3,000 other explosive devices. Bachabekzoda noted that Tajikistan plans to intensify its efforts in this area with the Strategic Plan for Humanitarian Demining, which is currently being implemented.