Director/general/Executive Director
Excellencies, Honoured Guests, Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I offer my sincere thanks to the representatives of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan , the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. for their willingness to participate in this important meeting.
It is a true sign of your appreciation of the threat of narcotics in the region, and your ongoing commitment to solving this issue.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are here today for the launch of the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries 2011-2014, that sets out a strategic framework for all UNODC's activities within West and Central Asia.
The region is crucial. In 2010, 74 per cent of the world's global illicit opium production came from Afghanistan and despite the international community's best efforts, drugs and crime in the country remain a clear and present threat.
After the drastic decline in 2010, due, mostly, to the opium plant disease, poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has increased this year by 7 per cent. In the same period, the amount of opium produced increased by 61 per cent.
Opium forms a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides funding to the insurgency, while also fuelling corruption.
Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan suffer from some of the highest rates of opiate consumption in the world. Afghanistan also faces an HIV epidemic among the country's injecting drug users.
These issues have a ripple effect within the societies of these countries, hindering social capital and causing widespread misery.
Due to these serious threats to the region, there is now an even greater need for new result-oriented measures to counter trafficking in drugs from Afghanistan, as well as the smuggling of precursor chemicals into the country.
And, we arrive today at a significant point in our collective journey; not perhaps at the turning of the tide, but still at a time when the momentum is in our favour . Working together, we must harness this energy to achieve our objectives.
I say this because we stand close to the end of a series of events that, building one upon the other, have come to define how we-the international community-are to deal with illicit drugs cultivated and produced in Afghanistan.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The journey to Vienna began in Istanbul with the Istanbul Declaration that affirmed the importance of a stable Afghanistan and sought to strengthen cooperation, while reinforcing the principle of common and shared responsibility.
Our road then turned towards Kabul where the 5 th Ministerial Meeting of the Triangular Initiative, built upon the work of the Istanbul Declaration and forged closer links between Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan.
The International Conference in Bonn deepened Afghanistan's relationship with its regional community and sought to ensure that narcotics is viewed as a major threat to Afghanistan's peace and security.
Taken together, these events have outlined the key priorities for Afghanistan; forged stronger links between the country and its regional neighbours ; and helped to reinforce the concept of shared responsibility.
We arrive now in Vienna at the launch of the Regional Programme .
With its emphasis on coordination, consultation and analysis, UNODC's Regional Programme is a delivery mechanism for achieving the results of these meetings in a comprehensive and coherent manner.
And the Regional Programme is needed.
With illicit drugs trafficked through their territories and sold to their people, the countries in West and Central Asia face high addiction rates, HIV and AIDS, cross-border criminality, and corruption.
Yet, the success of the Regional Programme is bound to the concept of shared responsibility. No single country, no matter how large or powerful, is capable of dealing with drugs and crime alone.
At every opportunity, we must strive for shared responsibility: at the local level, at the regional level and at the international level.
If we cannot achieve this, we risk collective irresponsibility and we will have failed the thousands of victims of illicit drugs who look to us for solutions. We must not fail them.
But, our journey has not ended. On 16th February next year, we will meet again at the Paris Pact Ministerial Meeting here in Vienna, which will continue to develop practical steps for meeting the threat of drug trafficking and cross-border cooperation.
I am hopeful that the Regional Programme will be able to work in close harmony with the Paris Pact and introduce its recommendations, as well as support the other regional initiatives.
The Regional Program can, therefore, be seen as a force for good in the region, at the disposal of the international community to help citizens achieve peace, security and justice.
In closing, I would especially like to thank our funding partners for the Regional Programme, in particular, Japan, Russia, Italy, Sweden, and Norway for their financial and political support.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we move from the conceptual to the operational part of the Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries, I urge everyone present here today to do everything possible to ensure the success of this programme.
Thank you.