Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Building regional cooperation and strengthening law enforcement capacities remain essential to addressing drug challenges, including opiates originating from Afghanistan.
In this regard, I very much welcome the long-standing collaboration between Japan, the Russian Federation and UNODC to promote training and support Afghanistan and neighbouring countries in West and Central Asia.
Such collective action is needed more than ever, in view of record increases in opium poppy cultivation and opiate production in Afghanistan.
In response, UNODC is working with the international community to support the Afghan government in line with the principle of shared responsibility.
Enhancing the capacity of law enforcement, border control and other relevant agencies to counter illicit drug trafficking through training, as called for in a CND resolution agreed last year, is a vital part of such efforts.
Such training is helping to confront the threats to security, development and health posed by drug trafficking, including trafficking of precursors. It also supports implementation of the SDGs and the UNGASS recommendations..
An independent evaluation of the Domodedovo project recognized the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of the training being delivered.
Overall, more than 600 counter-narcotics officers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the five countries of Central Asia have been trained over the past four years.
I am pleased to note that we have been seeing the impact of these efforts.
For example, at the start of January, Afghan officers trained through these programmes seized some 130 kilograms of heroin in Herat city.
In order to build on these successes and promote coordination, UNODC has launched a new database consolidating all law enforcement training initiatives for West and Central Asia.
The database is being implemented under the Drugs Monitoring Platform, a UNODC tool managed jointly by the Paris Pact Initiative and the Afghan Opiate Trade Project.
It is fully in line with recommendations of the Paris Pact Expert Working Group to promote a system of post-training monitoring, further promote networking among law enforcement training institutions and encourage partners to identify opportunities to enhance sustainability.
In view of these efforts, I am also pleased to note that we have with us today partners such as CARICC, which plays a very important role in facilitating information exchange and coordinating operational activities in the region.
This event is also an opportunity to discuss new initiatives that could be developed under this successful trilateral cooperation between UNODC, Japan and Russia.
This includes the possibility of establishing a counter-narcotics K-9 academy, in response to identified needs.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I thank the partners and donors who are helping to support effective law enforcement training.
I would also like to commend the countries in the region for their continued cooperation.
I wish you a productive meeting. Thank you.