witnesses during investigations of criminal cases. The programme, in co-operation with the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, provided two intensive training courses for investigators on detecting and defusing threats against protected witnesses in serious organized crime cases. The Witness Protection Department is the first State programme of witness and victim’s protection established in Kyrgyzstan and within Central Asia. Creation of the Co-ordination Centre under the Department for Combating Organized Crime was another achievement of PMP in 2014. The main aim of the Coordination Centre is cooperation and co-ordination of crime investigation activities among all authorized parties. The programme renovated and equipped the Co-ordination Centre at the MoI’s Main Department on Combatting Organized Crime, which is foreseen as the national co-ordinator for the implementation of the National Action Plan. The PMP conducted research on organized crime threats to national security and a needs assessment on Government’s immediate actions to address the impact of organized crime on local environment, political life, youth and the general public. A group of international and national experts was hired to conduct the research analysis and assessment and the programme continued with four scientific and practical conferences on various aspects of the fight against organized crime, money laundering and terrorism linked to organized crime. Outputs and recommendations from these events have been provided to national stakeholders, along with professional expertise and good practices. As a follow-up, four awareness-raising activities were conducted in provinces in the form of lectures for students, public outreach debates and sport activities reaching up to 1500 persons. Despite the Government’s gradual progress on building modern law enforcement structures and on-going reform attempts, the MoI has been facing new challenges and outlined the need to improve specialization of the police staff in combatting organized crime. Accordingly, the Centre has provided eight specialized training seminars to law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to combat organized and serious crime in line with international standards. The trainings were based on agreements signed with the experienced police bureaus from Lithuania, Turkey and Serbia. The PMP signed a letter of co-operation with the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau and a joint agreement with the Turkish Academy for Drugs and Organized Crime. Police experts provided consulting and legal expertise and shared advanced practices with Kyrgyz law enforcement through more than 12 specialized seminars and on-the-job consultancies. Around 750 law enforcement officers were trained on various subjects, including proactive approaches to countering organized crime, intelligence-led policing, witness protection, serious organized crime assessment, agent handling, countering drug trafficking, cybercrime and religious extremism. Moreover, the PMP completed two three-day training courses for 40 police investigators on how to effectively conduct Serious Organized Crime Threat Assessments (SOCTA). The PMP supported the participation of three representatives from the Anti-Drug Subdivision of the MoI, the State Service on Drug Control and the Ministry of Healthcare at the OSCE Conference on promoting partnership with non-law enforcement actors in combatting the threat of illicit drugs and the diversion of chemical precursors. The event was initiated by TNTD/SPMU of the OSCE Secretariat and the Swiss Chairmanship. The PMP and TNTD/SPMU conducted a joint regional workshop on international co-operation in criminal matters between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The workshop participants discussed legal provisions, mechanisms and tools to enhance cross-border organized crime investigations, which will contribute to information exchange mechanisms between law enforcement, prosecutorial and central authorities in both countries. In total, 40 participants from both countries attended the event. 143