Director-General/Executive Director
18 March 2013
Your Excellency, Mr President,
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Please allow me to say a few words as Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:
As the Secretary General just communicated to us, through his message, we are all facing formidable challenges posed by terrorism, to peace, security, economic and social development, and indeed humanity itself.
During the past decade, however, we have learnt how to cooperate better and how to prevent and counter the scourge of terrorism.
Our greatest weapon is our solidarity and deep belief that terrorism does not have a place in human society and that it should be eradicated.
As you know, one of the core tasks of my office is the prevention of terrorism.
Since this multifaceted objective is pursued mostly by Member States we are working closely with them.
We are providing technical assistance in producing relevant legislation, and training prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials in modern approaches to confronting the terrorist threat.
Today's conference is an excellent opportunity to have an insightful joint analysis of the current trends of terrorism and how to prevent and eradicate it.
In this context, we welcome concrete proposals regarding technical assistance projects and ideas for strengthening cooperation with UNODC and other United Nations entities, which form part of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force.
In addition to its terrorism prevention mandate, UNODC is dealing with several cross cutting issues.
These include organized crime, money laundering, trafficking in weapons, trafficking in human beings, among others. Breaking these unholy alliances is vital if we are to be effective.
Let me to once again thank our gracious host, the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, for the generous hospitality.
I am confident we will be very productive during this conference.
Thank you.