DUSHANBE, August 29, 2012, Asia-Plus – The second joint meeting of the senior representatives from the Drug Control Agency (DCA) under the President of Tajikistan and the State Drug Control Service of Kyrgyzstan, co-chaired by Tajik drug control chief Rustam Nazarov and his Kyrgyz counterpart Keneshbek Dushebayev, took place in Khujand, the capital of the Tajik northern Sughd province on August 28.
According to the DCA press center, the main objective of the meeting was in discussing cooperation between the two agencies in combating drug trafficking in border areas.
Nazarov and Dushebayev, in particular, noted that such joint meetings promoted establishment of closer cooperation in combating drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and other challenges aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region.
The counternarcotics agencies of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan reportedly share operational information on combating drug trafficking that allow them to reveal organized drug-trafficking groupings having sustainable transnational ties.
Mr. Steve Monaco, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) regional representative for Central Asia, Mr. Aleksandr Fedulov, UNODC resident representative in Kyrgyzstan, and Mr. Ali Hajigholam Saryazdi, UNDOC coordinator in Tajikistan, also delivered statements at the meeting.
It was the second meeting of the working group (WG) since a protocol on cooperation between the two counternarcotics agencies on combating drug trafficking in border areas was signed in the Kyrgyz city of Osh on May 6, 2011.
The sides reportedly agreed to hold the next meetings of senior drug control officials of the two countries in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in July next year.
According to the DCA, the two counternarcotics agencies have conducted six joint operations since May 2011 and more than 43 kilograms of narcotics have been seized in those operations.
