Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Welcome. I am very glad we can hold this Ministerial Review Meeting of the Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan initiative on the margins of the CND Session.
It is an opportunity to review efforts to improve cross-border and counter-narcotics cooperation under the AKT Initiative.
This in turn will support the follow up to relevant decisions made at the 3rd Senior Officials Meeting held in Dushanbe in September 2013, as well as the 2nd Ministerial Meeting that took place in Bishkek in October 2013, in particular:
Another important objective is supporting the enhancement of activities by the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre, CARICC, through information sharing and coordinated operations.
I appreciate the strong commitment displayed by the three countries. Since our last meeting in Vienna in March 2013, concrete results have been achieved as an operational segment under the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighboring Countries.
This includes one Drug Liaison Officer from Kyrgyzstan being placed in Khujand,Tajikistan, as well as three DLOs from Afghanistan being seconded to Dushanbe, Kulob and Khorog in Tajikistan.
Under this initiative last year, nine joint operations were conducted, resulting in the seizures of 477 kg of different type of drugs, including 426 kg of opium, 8.3 kg of heroin and 42.7 kg of cannabis.
I would like to commend the commitment of the drug control agencies of the three countries.
Rest assured that UNODC will continue to support cooperation among the three AKT members, which can also help to promote coordinated counter-narcotics efforts with other countries and regions facing similar threats.
I am looking forward to hearing your plans for further strengthening the Initiative.
Thank you.