The European Union (EU) CBRN Centres of   Excellence 14th Regional Round-Table for Central   Asia  (CA) took place on 1st to 3rd June in Almaty   (Kazakhstan) and online in blended format or actual   and virtual.

 The Round-table was attended by National Focal     Points from 7l Central Asian Countries.

  Opening addresses were made by H.E. Mr, Akan   Rakhmetullin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,   Republic of Kazakhstan, H.E. Ambassador Sven-Olov   Carlsson, Head of Delegation of the European Union   to  the Republic of Kazakhstan and Mr. Bakhtiyor Gulyamov, Head of the Regional Secretariat for Central Asia, and Chairman of the State Committee for Industrial Safety of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Address opening remarks were made by Mr. Sorin Popa, EU CBRN CoE Program Manager, FPI, European Commission and Ms, Iryna Iarema, Regional Coordinator for Central Asia UNICRI.

The forum was an opportunity for the National Focal Points to update the Regional Secretariat on CoE related activities, as well as presentations and results and plans for the future on various EU & Including ISTC funded projects (53 & 65).

ISTC Executive Director David Cleave attended in person on behalf of ISTC and moderated the presentation and discussions on the new ISTC CBRN CoE funded PRECA Project 87 on Preparedness and Response for Mass Gatherings and other health threats in Central Asia covering security for mass gatherings, protection of food and water, preparedness against CBRN incidents, risk and crises management and deployment of countermeasures, chemical and poison information centers, public health, and command and control and communications.    

There also took place a visit to the Masgut Aikimbayev's National Scientific Center for Especially Dangerous diseases (NSCEDI) Laboratory for those participants in Almaty.

On the 3rd day the round-table participants discussed the CBRN Regional Actions plans (RAP) and discussed the National Action Questionnaire (NAQ) and National Action Plans and finally there was a presentation on the proposal by LEICA Project on the planned Regional Counter-Terrorism CBRN Table-Top Exercise (TTX) & Field Exercise (FX),

The blended participation round table was a huge technical success and highlighted the strong work and progress made by the EU CBRN CoE and National Focal Points and the part that ISTC is playing in the implementation EU CBRN CoE Funded projects.