28 Nov 2011

AFGHANISTAN / TRIANGULAR INITIATIVE

The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today praised counter-narcotics ministers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran on a new agreement that will increase the exchange of information to tackle drug trafficking in the region. UNAMA

Posted at: November 28, 2011 5:25 pm

Duration: 01:25

Available in: SD

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STORY: AFGHANISTAN / TRIANGULAR INITIATIVE
TRT: 1.25
SOURCE: UNAMA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 28 NOVEMBER 2011, KABUL AFGHANISTAN

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot, press conference 
2. Med shot, panel
3. Various shots, signing of initiative (from left to right: Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Interior Minister of Iran; Haji Khuda Bux Rajja, Federal Minister, Ministry of Narcotics control of Pakistan; Zarar Ahmad Mogbel, Afghani Minister of Counter Narcotics; and Yury Fedotov, Executive Director UNODC)
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: 
"Opium forms a significant part of the Afghan economy and provides funding to the insurgency while also fuelling corruption so this situation cannot last forever. The time has come for more result oriented response to this challenge; response which is based on concrete actions and shared responsibility."
6. Close up, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Interior Minister of Iran
7. Close up, Haji Khuda Bux Rajja, Federal Minister, Ministry of Narcotics Control of Pakistan
8. Close up, Zarar Ahmad Mogbel, Afghani Minister of Counter Narcotics
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean Luc Lewahieu, Country Office Representative, UNODC, Afghanistan:
"Today's meeting again reiterated the willingness of the country's to move that forward to make sure that we can continue with this kind of cooperation and that we facilitate as a UN system this kind of a close cross border activity which will benefit everybody not only within the region and the three countries involved but as well globally, all the people who unfortunately have problems with addiction and to make the life of the criminals far more difficult than what it is today."
10. Wide shot press conference

STORYLINE:

Afghanistan provides 90 percent of the world's opium, most of which is shipped through Iran and Pakistan. Since 2007, the three countries have been involved in the UNODC-sponsored Triangular Initiative to coordinate their efforts to combat trafficking.

The ministerial declaration signed today by the three countries strengthens the joint planning cell, which enhances analytical and operational capacity and coordinates joint operations. The cell has yielded results in the past, coordinating 12 joint drug control operations that led to the seizures of several tons of illicit drugs and the arrests of key drug dealers and traffickers.

The UNODC Opium Survey 2011, released last month, reported that despite increased efforts to combat poppy harvests, rising prices and growing demand boosted cultivation by seven per cent in 2010, spreading to new regions of Afghanistan.

Drugs pose a threat to the health and security of not only Afghanistan, but Iran and Pakistan as well, and many other countries beyond. It is one of several issues the international community will discuss next week in Bonn, Germany, during the International Conference on Afghanistan.

During his visit to Kabul Fedotov also met with President Hamid Karzai. UNODC is set to launch its Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring Countries, which will focus on drug control.

He said he would welcome the President's support for the regional approach advocated by UNODC, including cooperation not only with immediate neighbours, Iran and Pakistan, but also further afield with Central Asian countries, Russia and China.

The UNODC chief also met with Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and Hervé Ladsous, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, who is currently on an official visit to the country. Discussions focused on the Bonn conference and strategies to bolster long-term international support for Afghanistan.