Drugs are a scourge that affect our young people. I would like to thank the chair of the CND and wish him every success as I’m sure this will be a turning point in international cooperation against drug trafficking.

I express gratitude to the director of the UNODC and the chair of the INCB for their work.

I would like to support the statement read by the African group and G77 and China regarding the exacerbation of the drug problem which will require international cooperation to combat it within the framework of shared responsibility based on a comprehensive approach which takes into account social, economic and security aspects, as well as trends in consumption and production, along with trafficking.

Drug trafficking is particularly serious because of its link with other forms of organised crime, as well as terrorism.

Tunisia has made efforts to implement the goals of the 2009 declaration, and design a rehabilitation program to combat drug dependence. We have a new law which is multifaceted.

We drafted a cooperation agreement with the UNODC to strengthen national and local capacity in the field of prevention and treatment of drug abuse. We have several legislative amendments to strengthen prevention and early detection.

Tunisia will be setting up an observatory whose mission it will be to collect all data on drugs to guarantee the analysis of these data, and organise awareness campaigns all over the country, making sure that grass roots organisations will be involved.

We need support from international cooperation and technical assistance.

The success of the extraordinary session will require detailed analysis of questions to be presented there. Interactive debates here will be a timely opportunity to guarantee the proper preparation of the UNGASS and I would like to thank the group responsible for organising the meeting for their contributions to the agenda, as it takes into account all concerns from all members states, notably the adoption of a global approach to tackle demand and supply. This means we can benefit from lessons learned and have a joint vision for dealing with different aspects of the drug problem.

My delegation will work to make a contribution to the debates and will stress the need to deal with the deep rooted cause of the problem, that is to say desperation, poverty and unemployment. We need better technology transfer, improved standard of living, and education.

To conclude, we need to work together to guarantee the success in tackling the scourge of the world drug problem.