DUSHANBE, July 15, 2008, Asia-Plus — On Monday July 14, Director of the Drug Control Agency (DCA), Lieutenant-General Rustam Nazarov, met here with visiting European Union Special Representative for Central Asia, Mr. Pierre Morel.
According to the DCA press service, in the course of the talks Mr. Morel briefed the DCA director on efforts taken by the European Union to strengthen border control and intensify the fight against drug trafficking in the region.
On the plans of the European Union for the foreseeable future, the EU envoy noted that the Union focuses on the issues related to providing regional security, including the fight against illicit drug trafficking.
Mr. Morel noted that the European Union in cooperation UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) plans to organize a meeting of the Central Asian foreign ministers in Dushanbe in October to discuss measures to strengthen border control, combating drug trafficking and development of the strategy of cooperation in this direction, the DCA press service said. Representatives of the United States, the Russian Federation and China, as well as Finland which holds the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE, are also expected to take part at this meeting.
For his part, the Tajik drug control chief informed the EU envoy of the drug situation in the country and the region, activities of the law enforcement agencies to fight drug trafficking. Nazarov has highly appraised the level of cooperation between Tajikistan and the European Union in strengthening border control and combating drug trafficking.
The Tajik drug control chief also suggested that problems of coordination of international organizations on implementation of existing projects and programs should be considered at the ministerial conference in Dushanbe, according to the DCA press service.
