Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
The threats posed by drugs and organized crime affect all aspects of our societies, from security and safety to health and development.
This high-level forum represents an important and much-needed opportunity to exchange views, information and experience, and to seek joint solutions.
The challenges remain formidable. The latest UNODC Afghanistan Opium Survey only confirms the magnitude of the problems facing the international community.
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan increased by ten per cent last year, to 201,000 hectares, while production, driven by high opium yield, rose by 43 per cent to 4,800 tonnes.
The monetary value of the trafficked drugs remains staggering.
On just the Balkans route, the illicit proceeds of trafficked Afghan opiates have been valued at 28 billion dollars annually - a figure exceeding the gross domestic product of Afghanistan, and that is only one of three trafficking routes.
In response, UNODC is working to promote effective international and regional cooperation, to advance interconnected, integrated and balanced responses to transnational organized crime and terrorism threats, as well as enhanced and operational drug control coordination.
We are providing support through our "One UNODC Concerted Approach for Europe, West and Central Asia".
This includes activities under the Regional Programmes for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries, and South Eastern Europe, the Programme for Central Asia, and our Country Programmes for Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
Furthermore, the Triangular Initiative and AKT Initiatives remain vital elements of the response to the threats of, and interlinkages between, drug trafficking, organized crime and illicit financial flows.
Here I would like to highlight the Twelfth Senior Officials Meeting of the Triangular Initiative hosted by the Islamic Republic of Iran earlier this month, which resulted in practical recommendations and a concrete action plan for the next two years.
The Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre, or CARICC, and the Joint Planning Cell based in Tehran are critical elements of the joint response we support.
UNODC is currently supporting countries in South Asia to set up a body similar to CARICC called SARICC.
In the near future, this body will be able to cooperate closely with CARICC, JPC and the Doha-based Gulf Criminal Information Centre for Combatting Drugs, among others.
As part of the One UNODC Concerted Approach, the Networking the Networks initiative is building an interregional bridge between regional law enforcement bodies along the major opiate trafficking routes.
In this context, UNODC plans to set up in Tehran a regional anti-money laundering network and centre of expertise with a focus on countering financing of terrorism at the national, regional and inter-regional levels.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our efforts to face the challenges of illicit drugs are informed and supported by the outcome document of the 2016 UNGASS on the world drug problem, which provides a responsive and comprehensive road map for balanced, integrated rights-based approaches, and reinforces efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Brussels' Conference on Afghanistan, held last October, further reaffirmed the international community's commitment to collective action to reduce the illicit production and trafficking of narcotics and precursors, and to fight organized crime, money laundering, corruption and the financing of terrorism.
However, high level political commitment and pledges must be backed by the required support, including financial resources.
I continue to urge all stakeholders to live up to their commitments.
In just a few weeks the Commission on Narcotic Drugs will be holding its Sixtieth Session in Vienna, which will be its first meeting since UNGASS.
The CND is already engaged in a comprehensive, inclusive and dynamic follow up to UNGASS, supported by UNODC.
The Sixtieth Session can help to further advance the operational recommendations of the UNGASS outcome document, and further promote integrated, evidence-based and comprehensive approaches to drugs.
For its part, UNODC will continue supporting Member States, in close cooperation with our partners, to tackle drug-related crime and related illicit financial flows, using all the tools at our disposal, as provided by the Conventions on drugs, corruption, transnational organized crime and terrorism, and the UN standards and norms on crime prevention and criminal justice.
Allow me to conclude by thanking the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for hosting this international conference.
I look forward to our discussion.
Thank you.