Statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the 30th UN General Assembly Special session on world drug problem

The Statement of the Head of the delegation of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan Sirodjidin Aslov at the Thirtieth special session of the General Assembly on
the World Drug Problem
(19 April 2016, New York)

Distinguished President,
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my honor to speak today at the Thirtieth special session of the General Assembly on the World Drug Problem, which provides an opportunity not only to review the implementation of the Political Declaration and Plan of Action, but also to develop the new and effective measures to combat this evil.

Drug distribution and trafficking problems acquired a significant importance at the national level in almost all regions of the world, and have gone far beyond the social and criminal spheres. In this regard, combating drug trafficking and drug abuse are the parts of the fight against organized crime, international terrorism and extremism, and carried out through implementation of foreign policy, economic, legal, organizational, technical, operational and preventive and other measures. Coordinated activities of the Central Asian states, in the sphere of common interests, carried out by their special drug control coordinating agencies.

The Republic of Tajikistan, like any other states in the region bordering with Afghanistan, takes the main burden of combating against drug trafficking. Therefore, Tajikistan pays special attention to the strengthening and development of international cooperation and always advances the initiatives aimed at joint and coordinated actions by all interested countries and international organizations.

It is necessary to continue strengthening the socio-economic assistance to the people of Afghanistan, in order to address issues of employment and economic recovery. Security issues in our region are inextricably connected with issues of combating terrorism and extremism, fueled by income from drug production as well.
In 1996-2012 in Tajikistan four National Governmental programs in the field of drug control issues have been implemented.

An important step in the implementation of anti-drug policy of Tajikistan was the approval of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan entitled "National Strategy to fight against illicit drug-trafficking in the Republic of Tajikistan for 2013-2020". The main goal of which is to significantly reduce the illicit distribution of narcotic drugs and their non-medicated use, to reduce scales of the consequences of their illicit trafficking for health safety, society and state security, as well as expansion of international cooperation.

From 1996 to 2015 in the territory of Tajikistan more than 113 tons of drugs were seized, of which 34 tons is heroin and 38 tons is opium.

Only in 2015, around 5 tons of drugs were seized by the law enforcement agencies of Tajikistan.

Measures taken by the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan have created the conditions for reducing the number of registered crimes related to drugs in the country.

Due to adopted measures by the Government of Tajikistan, as well as support of donor countries and international organizations, including United Nations Office on Drug Crime (UNODC) our country has achieved certain successes in the field of drug control related issues and has established close cooperation with the interested countries, such as the Russian Federation, the United States, China, Afghanistan and other countries.

In conclusion, I would like to affirm that international cooperation in the field of drug control issues will remain as one of the priority tasks for the Government of Tajikistan.

I thank you for your attention!