DUSHANBE, October 19, 2012, Asia-Plus — On Thursday October 18, Tajik Deputy Foreign Minister, Nizomiddin Zohidov, received visiting United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Representative for Central Asia, Alekasndr Sychev.
According to the Tajik MFA information department, the sides discussed issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and UNODC in combating drug trafficking.
Zohidov reportedly appreciated UNODC’s support for implementation of regional and national programs and projects aimed at strengthening of national potential to combat drug trafficking.
For his part, Sychev highly appraised counter-narcotics efforts of Tajikistan and appreciated Tajikistan’s active participation in implementation of UNODC programs, the source said.
The UNODC regional representative for Central Asia arrived on a two-day working visit in Dushanbe yesterday.
UNODC presence in Central Asia began 1993 with the establishment of the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Today there are Program Offices in all five Central Asian States.
With a traditional emphasis on building capacity in counter-narcotics through technical assistance, UNODC activities in the region link national projects on border control with regional projects developing intelligence analysis systems and joint operations. These include: the Central Asia Regional Information and Coordination Center in Almaty; precursor chemical control; controlled deliveries; national drug control agencies; and mobile interdiction units. All this work is carried out in close cooperation with national and international partners and donors.
Significant trends in the UNODC in recent years have seen the shift towards activities within the crime mandates of UNODC and towards an increasingly regional programming structure. Within the framework of a number of political initiatives concerning Afghanistan and its neighboring countries (such as the Paris Pact and the Rainbow Strategy), UNODC is seeking to build synergy between its drugs and crime mandates.
