Acknowledging the role of the UN as the main guarantor of security, peace and development in the world, Turkmenistan considers that all states should work together to combat drug trafficking.

We are playing an active role to tackle drug trafficking internationally. In 2011, we became a member of CND from 2012-2015, and this proves that our country is doing a lot to eradicate all threats from drugs. We have a constructive foreign policy to this end.

Our activity is consistent and constant in this field. We have national programs to combat drug trafficking, including measures to work prevention and treatment of drug addicts.

Public support has an impact on this negative behaviour [drug use]. We have worked with public health departments and media on prevention, and hold meetings with young people and families in at risk groups to tackle the issue.

Our priority is the health of our population. We are building modern sports facilities in our schools, and thanks to these we are seeing that in part, also because we are tackling drug trafficking, we have managed to freeze the activities of drug traffickers. We have managed to reduce the activities of traffickers and so increase the price of drugs.

We have an active policy to tackle the financing of terrorism and money laundering. We have a series of structures and measures to address this issue, and have boosted our law enforcement agencies in these fields.

Our officials and law enforcement agencies attend course domestically and abroad to improve their knowledge on how to tackle drug trafficking. Turkmenistan has made significant proposals to strengthen cooperation with other nations of the Caspian Sea to tackle drug trafficking, including Iran and Russia.

We’re working with the UNODC and EU to strengthen border control and combat transnational organised crime.

Foreign policy initiatives have also been launched in recent years. In our capital we set up the UN regional centre for Asia for preventive diplomacy. We’d like to strengthen the work on cooperation to combat drug trafficking more effectively from both a medical and law enforcement perspective.

Once again, I would like to reaffirm that we will continue to fulfil all our international commitments to combat drug trafficking as effectively as possible, working with other states and organisations to do that. Effective implementation of drug control treaties is crucial.