Graduation Ceremony of the three-week Regional Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Level 1 Course
On 28 July 2023, eighteen mine action specialists and practitioners (17 men, 1 woman) from the military, law enforcement, security services, and humanitarian agencies of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Serbia completed the Regional Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Level 1 Course.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) training cycle includes altogether six consecutive courses beginning with the EOD Level 1 and ending with three specializations in EOD Level 3+.
During the three-week training of EOD Level 1 participants have enhanced their skills in locating, identifying and destroying single items of ordnance in-situ through series of theoretical classes and practical exercises, focusing on explosives and explosive theory, fuze arming forces and fuze types, land service ammunition and EOD safeties, EOD reconnaissance, demolition range management, and full mission profile.
The closing ceremony at Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defense's Regional Explosive Hazards Training Centre (REHTC) in Chimteppa was attended by representatives of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe (POiD), Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan, and the United States Army Central (USARCENT).
Major-General Miravar Khushvakht, 1st Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defence recognized “the significance of regional initiatives in facilitating inter-military cooperation and providing long-standing support in building national and regional capacities in improving the explosive hazards situation in Central Asia”.
Rati Japaridze, OSCE POiD Officer-in-Charge, underlined that “long-standing technical explosive hazard coordination, multilateral capacity building and technical level dialogue are to support utilization of participants’ knowledge, experience, and good practices in reducing threats to national and regional security posed by explosive hazards in Central Asia”.
Manuel Micaller, Jr. Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Tajikistan, emphasised that “the U.S. works together with Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defence, OSCE and regional partners, providing training in disposal of explosive devices, such as landmines, and keeping everyone safer. It is a great example of concrete cooperation between Central Asian militaries.”
Ms. Sonja Stanisavljevic, OSCE POiD Programme Officer, noted “the importance of working together in an unequivocal direction and sharing an undivided position to generate synergies and give momentum to a commonly shared concern. Our effective collaboration can prove crucial to keep humanitarian mine action a high priority on the national and international agenda.”
The activity is part of POiD's broader role in mobilizing national and international actors, fostering political dialogue on a wide range of security issues, and developing a platform for joint action among participating Central Asian states, all aiming to make a lasting difference in humanitarian mine action.
