A Qatar-Backed Initiative supporting Central Asia’s security sector advanced further with a three-day study visit held in Rome from December 3 to 5, 2025. Officials from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan participated, reflecting coordinated regional engagement through the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), Italy’s Department of Public Security, and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). The program centered on strengthening capacities to safeguard public places from emerging terrorist threats, an area of heightened relevance amid evolving attack methodologies targeting crowded and symbolic locations.
The agenda included structured sessions at the Rome Police Headquarters and field visits across high-profile sites such as the Colosseum Archaeological Area. Italian experts demonstrated operational setups, surveillance systems, and emergency pathway designs tailored for mass foot traffic and tourist environments. Instruction continued at the Tor di Quinto Training Centre and the Police Training School, where participants engaged with tactical units and reviewed coordinated response models applied during large-scale cultural and sporting events.
The Rome initiative aligns with wider policy frameworks that guide international terrorism prevention. Among these are the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, Security Council Resolution 2396 (2017), and the 2018 Addendum to the Madrid Guiding Principles outlining global standards for protecting vulnerable targets. Qatar’s financing, channeled through UNOCT’s Global Programme on Countering Terrorist Threats against Vulnerable Targets, is implemented by the Ashgabat-based UNOCT Central Asia Unit co-located with the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA). These institutional linkages ensure the Rome program forms part of a long-term architecture rather than an isolated workshop.
Operational Knowledge Transfer
Italian authorities emphasized knowledge transfer grounded in real-world experience. Prefect Annunziato Vardè, Director of the Office for Coordination and Planning of Police Forces, and General Massimiliano Della Gala, Director of International Relations, opened the program with emphasis on Italy’s policy evolution over two decades of counter-terrorism. Their interventions outlined how legislative frameworks and inter-agency protocols had been adjusted in response to both domestic threats and global incidents.
Event Security Expertise
Italy’s preparations for mass gatherings, including state ceremonies and top-tier football events, formed a central learning block. Discussions drew on case analysis of crowd movement dynamics and coordination between national police, private security firms, and municipal authorities. These models reflect a layered approach that Central Asian delegations considered adaptable to their cities experiencing rising urban density and increasing international tourism.
Legal and Institutional Structures
Authorities highlighted how Italy’s legal provisions underpin operational readiness. Participants reviewed requirements governing surveillance authorizations, rapid deployment parameters, and risk classification of public sites. For Central Asian governments updating their national action plans, these models provided comparative insights into institutional distribution of responsibilities.
Peer-to-Peer Strategy Exchange
The informal nature of the peer sessions enabled candid exchanges on adapting Italian practices to regional realities. Officers from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan referenced persistent border vulnerabilities and the need for more robust coordination mechanisms linking intelligence and routine policing. The Rome visit provided context for understanding how cross-sectoral cooperation can strengthen early detection and crisis response.
Simulation Exercise Components
Practical drills formed a prominent component of the program. Threat scenarios that were fast moving and needed to be synchronized between command centers on the ground and on-ground teams were simulated using simulation modules. Decision-making in the uncertain situation was practiced, and the focus was on the threat detection in response to behavioural abnormalities and situational factors. These interactive exercises were to elaborate due to the need to make the institutions familiar with complex situations that are continually becoming characteristic of attacks on soft targets all over the world.
Regional Counter-Terrorism Context
Since its adoption in March 2022, Central Asia has increased its participation in global counter-terrorism frameworks. The JPoA which became the initial regional framework developed according to the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy unites national strategies in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Since 2019, UNOCT has been present in the field in Ashgabat and has enabled integration of national security plans in the region over the long term with regional efforts, such as the Counter-Terrorism Early Warning Network introduced in 2022.
JPoA Funding Landscape
The 2025 reconsideration of JPoA implementation included involvement of Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and the UN Peace and Development Fund run by China. Such financial investments facilitated over 100 counter-terrorism and prevention programs deployed since 2014 to provide a foundation to the current knowledge dissemination programs such as the Rome visit.
Early Warning Network Functionality
The Early Warning Network facilitates quicker dissemination of information on the emergent threats among the five Central Asian states and the UN agencies. This situation improves the situational awareness that is common across boundaries as more individuals travel across borders more so as of late with the recent apprehensions regarding the trends of transnational recruitment and the trafficking paths.
Qatar’s Continuing Role
The fact that Qatar has been supporting UNOCT programs over the years is a leadership aspect in ensuring continuity of capacity-building in the region. In 2025 top-level interactions, Qatari representatives reiterated their support of UNOCT activities, citing tangible results of the International Hub on Behavioral Insights to Counter Terrorism in Doha. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the Foreign Minister, repeated that presence in the field is the key to solving the context-specific problems.
Capacity-Building Outcomes
The study visit in Rome enhanced skills of the participants on the methods of risk assessment, focused threat surveillance and multi-layered protection of the areas in the society. The Italian protests at crowded locations such as the Colosseum supplied information on how to protect the places where the historical buildings do not allow the installation of technology and the evacuation process.
Infrastructure and Urban Security Lessons
Authorities traced the topic of balance between architectural restrictions and security requirements, which is becoming more topical in the case of Central Asian cities that have to maintain heritage buildings in the context of the modernization of cities. These lessons are used to help achieve national action plans that fill gaps that were found throughout the ten-year assessment of the JPoA.
Multi-Stakeholder Coordination
The representatives of UNICRI and Italy emphasized the importance of involvement of the partners in the private sector in the public security systems. The officials of Central Asians remarked that there is a need to establish a trust between law enforcement and commercial organizations that own big malls, transit, and entertainment centers where early reporting time can significantly lower the response time.
Broader Geopolitical Implications
The Qatar-Backed Initiative is indicative of a trend in the increased collaboration of regional arrangements and specific capacity-building in addition to bigger multilateral structures. As the terrorism, organized crime and geopolitical instability intersect further, the security cooperation of the Central Asia region has attracted similar efforts of the EU, Norway and the OSCE.
It was observed in 2025 that cross-regional cooperation among Middle Eastern and Central Asian states increased, and it centered on organised criminal interference, money wisdom, and counter-radicalization approaches. UNOCT presence in Ashgabat and Bishkek has continued to inform states on how to assess the evolving risks to make sure that programmes such as the Rome study visit are translated into permanent institutional strength.
The Qatar-Backed Initiative illustrates the working principle of multilateralism, which enhances operational capacity in high-threat settings: it is a combination of Gulf funding, Italian capabilities, and UN coordination. As 2025 develops, one wonders whether adaptation in the Central Asian region can stay abreast of the changing terrorist tactics or whether the need to remain constantly recalibrating to maintain regional preparedness in the ever-complicated security environment will be required.
