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Border guards are trained in mountain
rescue operations in Kazbegi. |
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The first group of 77 Georgian border guards graduated, on July 11, from a month-long course carried out in frames of the OSCE-led Training Assistance Programme (TAP). A total of 850 border guards will undergo TAP, which is being conducted by international experts at four training centers throughout Georgia.
This training program was approved by the OSCE Permanent Council in April after Russia vetoed the plan to to resume border monitoring operations on the Russo-Georgian border.
“This program is of vital importance. Georgia has never had 850 well-trained border guards,” Victor Dolidze, Georgia’s Representative to the OSCE, told Civil Georgia.
The Georgian border guards are being trained in rescue operations in mountainous areas and security rules. The course also includes training in patrolling, reporting and observation techniques; helicopter operations and pilot practical training; management of border units; and legal aspects of border policing.
“This is something new for us. Georgian border guards have never undergone training like this, especially in rescue operations in mountainous areas,” Korneli Salia, Deputy Commander of the Border Guard Department, told Civil Georgia.
He hailed this training course but said that now it is important to focus on talks with western partners over rendering technical assistance to the Georgian border guards.
“For better patrolling and protecting borders it is very important to have special equipment - including night vision gear. This equipment is very expensive – the Georgian Border Guard Department will need at least USD 5 million for night vision equipment – so we can not afford it,” Korneli Salia said.
The Georgian Border Guard Department’s 2005 budget is 19 million Lari, which is approximately USD 10.4 million.
“Our mission in the OSCE plans to carry out very intensive work in this regard [receiving technical assistance]. But these kinds of issues related to technical assistance are mainly solved through bilateral agreements with the states,” the Georgian Representative to the OSCE said.
He said that the Georgian side will also continue talks with the OSCE over the possible resumption of the border monitoring operation. “But I do not rule out that this issue will not be as important in the near future as it was previously,” Victor Dolidze stated.
“It is high time to start doing something on our own,” he added.
By the end of this summer, about 400 border guards will be trained in the frames of TAP. “We are confident that Georgian Border Guard service will be feeling the benefit of their new capacities,” Ambassador Roy Reeve, the Head of OSCE Mission to Tbilisi, said at the graduation ceremony which was held in Kazbegi mountainous district in northern Georgia.
