Agriculture Inspection Quarantine (AQI) and Border Security Improvement Project

APHIS hosted a technical information exchange with the Mongolian General Agency for Specialized Inspection (GASI) and the Veterinary and Animal Breeding Agency (VABA) between May 13th and 19th. Mongolia, a landlocked democratic nation, has Soviet era port-of-entry state-owned facilities.

The government of Mongolia received an international grant to modernize two land ports (for the northern and southern borders) that will complement the recently built modern international airport.

Towards this end, a Mongolian delegation of five visited the Port of Champlain (land port), JFK (airport), and APHIS VS live animal import facility in New York State. This coordinated effort, led by Dr. Connie Bacon, included APHIS-IS, VS, DHS-CBP, and the U.S. Embassy in Mongolias Economic and Commercial Section.

The weeklong event provided a rare behind the scenes overview of U.S. port-of-entry operations to include commercial and passenger cargo screening as well as the interception, seizure, and destruction of regulated articles. The CBP agriculture specialists at the Port of Champlain demonst