Annual Activities Review

The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) Project on Counter-Narcotics Training of Central Asian, Afghan and Pakistani Law Enforcement Personnel summarized it activities implemented in 2010 during the Annual High Level Steering Committee meeting conducted on 14-15 December 2010 in Brussels, Belgium. During the NRC Summit in Lisbon Heads of States and Governments approved the extension  of  the project. Depending on the available funding, the project will consider the possibility of assistance to Canine Units and Forensic Laboratories of the national law enforcement bodies through the organization of basic and advanced training courses for their officers. In November 2010  Pakistan was included in the project as a beneficiary country, and training courses for Pakistani counter-narcotics officers at TADOC and in the training institutions of the Russian Federation were organized in November-December. Besides, the participants of the meeting emphasized that the law enforcement officers trained by the project achieved significant results in their capacities to intercept drug smuggling channels and seized significant amount of drugs in 2010. Mr. Nazarov, Director of Drug Control Agency of Tajikistan, mentioned that three officers of DCA had been awarded to the highest governmental awards  for their achievements in combating illicit drugs. According to Mr. R. Mukhamedov, Director of the National Drug Control Centre of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek law enforcement officers trained under the project successfully perform assigned tasks and were directly involved into the largest seizures of drugs. Total 34 officers have been shifted to executive positions for their professional achievements and 13 are taking up the commanding posts.  Similar achievements and progress have been reported by the delegations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. Considering successful cooperation between the project and the All-Russian Advanced Training Institute of Ministry of Interior (Russia) where 8 two-week training sessions for the law enforcement officers from Central Asia and Afghanistan were organized annually, the Russian Federation, in addition, has offered facilities of the North-Western Training Centre of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service in St. Petersburg for training. For 2011 Russian delegation has offered 6 training courses for 96 trainees from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan at this training centre. Thus, the North-Western Training Centre in St. Petersburg has become the third fixed training facility along with TADOC and the All-Russian Advanced Training Institute of Ministry of Interior. The plan of activities for 2011 was developed during the meeting.