Counternarcotics issues

Your Excellency Executive Director of the UNODC Mr. Yury Fedotov,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Russian delegation thanks the UNODC for organizing this important side event. The latest unprecedented increase in drug cultivation and production in Afghanistan clearly calls for a new level of cooperation among Paris Pact partners. Only on the basis of solidarity and joint efforts we will be able to find an effective solution to the global challenge originating in Afghanistan.

The process, which started in Paris in 2003, has a long history. We want to thank its founding fathers for this timely and important initiative to create an international mechanism for coordination of efforts aimed at making a valuable input into strengthening regional and international peace and stability.

It was followed by the Moscow conference in 2006, which outlined new horizons for our joint struggle and commitment.

The ministerial meeting in Vienna in 2012 was a crucial milestone in the dynamics of the Paris Pact Initiative. It created a comprehensive roadmap with four main areas of the international strategy to counter the threat of Afghan opiates, including strengthening regional cooperation, detecting and blocking illicit financial flows, preventing diversion of precursor chemicals and reducing opiate abuse and dependence.

15 years later in 2018 the Paris Pact framework remains all the more relevant and all the more necessary. Against the backdrop of the deep heroin crisis in Afghanistan the international community needs to intensify its endeavors and reconfirm its political commitment towards the noble mission to eliminate the scourge of illicit drugs.

I would like to reiterate that an essential element of our policy should be close cooperation with the Government of Afghanistan. We are confident that the destiny of this country should be in the hands of its people. That is why we see the role of the Paris Pact Initiative in helping them in this struggle. It evidently presumes preserving the necessary level of engagement of Afghan authorities and their unchanged and renewed commitment to the implementation of the Paris Pact goals.

This task is becoming all the more pressing now, when the people of this country confront the new phenomena of narcoterrorism, when drug revenues feed terrorist activities. It is a matter of our particular concern that ISIS fighters move to Afghanistan and use opiates as their combat weaponry. The international community needs to urgently counter this destructive trend in order to put an end to the immense suffering of people.

Paris Pact provides an effective umbrella framework for different regional initiatives. Russia works closely with partners under the auspices of such regional forums as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Collective Security Treaty Organisation and Central Asian Regional Information Communication Centre in order to stop drug trafficking at its borders.

It is important that the UNODC plays a key coordinating role in the implementation of the Paris Pact priorities. Russia welcomes closer interface between respective sections within the UNODC in translating strategic guidance and recommendations adopted by our high-level officials within the Paris Pact framework into practical counter-narcotics projects and programmes.

One of the most vivid examples of such coordination is strengthening capacity building activities in Afghanistan. Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation provides training to law-enforcement personnel from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asian countries. We appreciate the role of the UNODC and the Government of Japan in the implementation of joint projects with Russia and ensuring that these activities are inclusive and result-oriented.

The research tools developed and operated under the Paris Pact Initiative are useful sources of accurate and reliable data. They help us better understand the underlying trends and causes of the drug cultivation, production and trafficking in Afghanistan and develop appropriate international response. We welcome the initiative of the UNODC to create under the Drug Monitoring Platform an electronic database, which maps all international law-enforcement training activities in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries. We consider that research capacity as well as overall effectiveness of the Paris Pact should be maintained and reinforced.

This initiative proved to be quick in adapting to the changing landscape and responding to new threats in Afghanistan and beyond. It has expanded its area of responsibility and involves more countries and regions. New geography demands additional resources to make our partnership effective in achieving its goals.

Russian Federation has been strongly committed to the Initiative from the onset. We want to reconfirm our donor commitment to the future development of the Paris Pact. We would like to thank other key donors, in particular France and the United States of America, for their generous contributions. We hope that this event will attract the attention of new partners and donors, who will join the ranks of countries committed to implementinga consistent and sustainable international policy in Afghanistan.

To conclude let me thank the UNODC staff working in the field for their everyday dedication and courage in fulfilling their mission in extremely hard and dangerous conditions.

Thank you for your attention.