Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 19 February, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Customs Organization held an official opening ceremony for the Port Control Group at the Yallama border customs post.

The event was attended by representatives of the UN Office in Central Asia, led by UNODC Regional Representative Ashita Mittal. The SCC side was represented by the Deputy Chairman B. Rakhimov.

At the same time, representatives of donor organizations of the global program "Control over container traffic" took part in the opening ceremony in the format of video conferencing.

To date, a Port Control Group has been officially launched at the border customs post.

At the event, the State Customs Committee and the UN Office agreed to further expand cooperation within the framework of the "Control over container traffic" program.

It should be noted that the State Customs Committee has been actively cooperating with the UN Office within the framework of the global program "Control over container traffic" since 2014.

The goal of this program is to help participating countries establish sustainable law enforcement mechanisms in seaports and land ports to prevent containerized freight traffic from being used for drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and other forms of illegal activity, while facilitating legal trade.

The Container Traffic Control Program offers countries an effective solution for the coordination and management of law enforcement agencies in sea and land ports.

Within the framework of this program, the UN Office conducts trainings and courses for representatives of the "Port Control Groups" of the border customs posts "Chukursoy Technical Office", "Yallama" and "Alat". As part of the training, personnel learn to identify high-risk containers using an integrated approach.

Active cooperation and mutual assistance within the framework of this global program contributes to high-quality and effective control of the movement of vehicles and goods at customs checkpoints, as well as to increase the level of knowledge and capacity of staff.

At the Yallama border customs post, the UN Office was fully equipped with computers, furniture and special surveillance equipment based on traffic control, a separate room for the port control group.

During the event, the head of the UGTK for the Tashkent region O. Choriev acquainted the UN representatives with the system of operation of all technical means at the Yallama customs post and their potential.

UN Resident Coordinator in Central Asia Ms. A. Mittal got acquainted with the throughput capacity of this checkpoint, innovations in the field of simplified customs procedures, convenience of export and import corridors and highly appreciated them.