Starts by paying tributes to Hugo Chavez and Professor Ghodse.

Afghanistan is still producing too much illicit crops despite efforts by the afghan government. There is an 18% growth in opium crop. Tackling illicit cultivation and production means strengthening all the efforts to tackle the issues, ie alternative development, law enforcement, crop eradication…

Amphetamine type stimulants, synthetic opioids are causing increasing problems which we need to deal with. We need collective responsibility and shared cooperation by all countries.
Our law enforcement agencies seized more than 520 tonnes of drugs in 2012. The route for smuggling amphetamines to Iran has almost stopped. We have full security and excellent power. We have blocked trafficking from the east of the country, improved national laws, improved relationships with neighbouring countries, improved data collection.

However, the politicisation of drug control, decriminalisation at local and national levels, and laxity towards shared responsibility can seriously threaten the global campaign against illicit drugs.

We need to combat precursors at their point of origin, take shared responsibility seriously, and create more effective participation
Iran fully supports UNODCs’s work.