On April 20, 2021, the representatives of the Directorate of Canine Services of the Department for Specialized Training and Canine Services of the State Customs Service held a meeting with the representatives of the Guardi CiviI Dog Training Center (Spain) with the participation of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as part of implementation of the OSCE project program “Support to Strengthening Capacity of Ukrainian Authorities in Preventing and Countering the Illicit Trafficking of Weapons, Ammunition and Explosives in All Its Forms”.

The main goal of the event was to agree on potential areas of cooperation in order to increase the capacity of the canine service of the State Customs Service of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine to share experiences and methods of training of canine teams in the detection of weapons, ammunition and explosives.

During the meeting, colleagues from the Spanish dog training component familiarized the participants with the main aspects of canine teams training to search for weapons, ammunition and explosives, with the timing of such training, and offered to exchange experience through working visits to the Department for Specialized Training and Canine Services of the State Customs Service, as well as to the Dog Training Center of the State Border Service of Ukraine in order to get acquainted with the methodology and specifics of training of canine teams of the State Customs Service and the State Border Guard Service.

Coordination of further steps on joint study visits under this program will be carried out by the OSCE coordinators, and the next online meeting is planned for May 11-12 this year.