Interior Min. To Attend UNODC Meet In Vienna

Vienna, March 11, IRNA - Minister of Interior and Secretary General of the Drugs Conrol Headquarters of Iran, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, will pay a visit to Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday to attend the Ministerial Conference of the Paris Pact Partners on Combating Illicit Traffic. The first such meeting was held in Paris in 2003. The second such meeting was held in Moscow in 2006, while the third one is to be held in Vienna in the coming days. About 60 countries are signatories to the pact. The Paris Pact is one of the most important frameworks in the fight against opiates originating in Afghanistan (hereafter referred to as “opiates”). It is aimed at reducing illicit traffic in opiates including opium poppy cultivation, production and global consumption of heroin and other opiates, and at establishing a broad international coalition to combat illicit traffic in opiates. It relies on the commitments and ambitions of its partner-countries working in consultation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and in full conformity with the three international drug control conventions and the Political Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the High-level Segment of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March 2009. Despite continued efforts by the international community and major achievements, the problem of illicit traffic in opiates continues to be of serious concern. Illicit traffic in opiates, including heroin, is a growing problem, generating illicit financial flows, fuelling corruption, and organized crime and in some cases funding terrorist activities and insurgency. Paris Pact partners, recognizing their common and shared responsibility reiterate their determination to counter, in a balanced and comprehensive manner, the sustained menace of illicit drugs, which causes widespread harm and suffering, and endangers the health and welfare of human beings and adversely affects the social, economic, cultural and political foundations of society. Efforts under the aegis of the Paris Pact initiative are aimed at the strengthening of international and regional cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to support its sustained efforts, including on a national level, to address illicit traffic in opiates, recognizing the threat they pose to international peace and stability in different regions of the world and the important role played by UNODC in these efforts. The Third Ministerial Conference of the Paris Pact Partners was held in accordance with decisions taken at the first (Paris, 21-22 May 2003) and second (Moscow, 26-28 June 2006) Conferences, where Foreign Ministers of 55 States and heads of 23 international organizations spoke in favor of holding such ministerial meetings on a regular basis. The goal of this Ministerial Conference was to reaffirm the commitments of members of the international community towards the fight against illicit traffic in opiates, to strengthen cooperation between Paris Pact partners and to urge them to achieve substantial practical results in reducing illicit opiates trafficked from Afghanistan. Paris Pact partners took into account commitments by participants in the Istanbul Process on Regional Security and Cooperation for a Secure and Stable Afghanistan adopted at the Istanbul Conference for Afghanistan on 2 November 2011, and in the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn, Germany, on 5 December 2011, which inter alia aimed at strengthening cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the States in the broader region to counter the threat posed by the illicit production./end