Embassy News

U.S. Government Donates Trucks and Laboratory Equipment to Turkmenistan

PAS No 183
June 07, 2007

Chargé Brush at maintenance truck handover ceremony with representatives from the State Border Service

Ashgabat, June 07, 2007 - Yesterday the U.S. Embassy held a ceremony to hand over five mobile maintenance trucks to the State Border Service of Turkmenistan.  One vehicle will be assigned to each welayat of Turkmenistan to support Border Guard operations and assist the State Border Service in the maintenance of the vehicles.  The State Border Service also received additional Motorola radio equipment which, with the trucks, totals approximately $250,000.  Representatives from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Border Service of Turkmenistan attended the ceremony. 

Another recent example of the continuing cooperation between the governments of Turkmenistan and the United States of America was the U.S. donation of a Gas Chromatograph with Flame Ionization Detector (GC/FID) and a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR) to the National Criminal Research Center of Turkmenistan’s Ministry of the Interior on May 10, 2007.  The $85,000 worth of laboratory equipment will help Turkmenistan's forensic specialists more effectively examine evidence for criminal prosecutions and assist in bilateral efforts to combat narcotics trafficking and organized crime.

The U.S. Embassy's Chargé d'Affaires a.i., Jennifer L. Brush, stated at the ceremony:  “These trucks and radio equipment will serve as an effective tool in implementing tasks set before the Border Guards.  It further demonstrates the continued cooperation between the governments of Turkmenistan and the United States.”

The trucks were donated as part of an ongoing exchange program run by the Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) program of the United States Embassy, whose goal is to deter the spread of weapons of mass destruction through joint training exercises and equipment transfers to customs and border security agencies.  The laboratory equipment was donated as part of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program (INL).  INL, with the support of the U.S. Embassy, has been conducting training, providing special laboratory equipment, and sending Turkmenistan’s forensic scientists to international meetings.