This Memorandum, which I personally consider one of the best we have ever joined, has proved to be a useful instrument for the coordination of our plans and strategies. All five Central Asian countries are members of the Economic Cooperation Organization which in 1995 concluded with us an agreement on cooperation in drug control and related issues. The Assembly is also to adopt very soon a new Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The United Nations Security Council denounced the illicit drug production in Afghanistan and expressed its concern at the threat to peace and security in the Region and beyond. The OSCE context includes a range of agreements and declarations that approach the issue from the human security side and constitute a framework for taking the needed steps forward.
Action is already underway in all five Central Asian states and in other affected countries.
But we need to expand this work. I will cite the example of Tajikistan. The Agency has quickly become operational. Even prior to its formal inauguration, the Agency has already seized impressive amounts of drugs and arrested 115 traffickers. The combined effort of all law enforcement agencies operating in Tajikistan has resulted in nearly1.3 tonnes of heroin seized this year.