Strengthen cooperation with national counterparts in Uzbekistan

12 February 2015, UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia, led by Ms. Ashita Mittal, Regional Representative and the team had a meeting at the National Center for Drugs Control (NCDC) under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Ms. Mittal laid out priority thematic areas and plan of action for 2015 to be implemented in partnership with the Government of Uzbekistan to address strengthen technical cooperation on counter narcotics, criminal justice, health and research. This annual plan will be implemented through projects operational in Central Asia, the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighboring Countries and the Global programmes on Container Control, against organized crime and on drugs and HIV prevention.

The Head of NCDC, Mr. Mansurov, accompanied by the representatives from Ministries of Justice, Internal Affairs, Health, HIV center and Border Control Service expressed their interest in jointly implementing the proposed Plan of Action for 2015 and beyond. Among some of the proposed areas for future collaboration with UNODC by the national partners were reinforcing the role of CARICC; further involvement and active participation of NGOs in criminal justice area; drug use prevention  among youth, especially to prevent use of newly emerging illegal substances, and reduce their consequences; as well as further capacity building of law enforcement officers through specialized training programmes.

UNODC, the Regional Office is developing a new Programme for Central Asia 2015-2019 in close consultations the Governments and experts from the region. This Programme will  focus on four thematic areas: (i) Countering transnational crime, illicit drug trafficking and terrorism; (ii) Criminal justice, crime prevention and integrity; (iii) Drug prevention, treatment and reintegration, and HIV prevention; and (iv) Research and trend analysis.