TEHRAN –A bilateral meeting has been held between Iran and Kyrgyzstan to strengthen collaboration in combating drug trafficking, Mohammad Zarei, an official with the Iranian anti-narcotics headquarters, said.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Fifty-Sixth Session of the Subcommission on Illicit Drug Traffic and Related Matters in the Near and Middle East, which was held on November 21-24 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The Iranian delegation announced readiness to share their experiences in the fight against drug trafficking with Kyrgyzstan.

Regional and international cooperation to reduce the cultivation and production of narcotics and psychoactive drugs; the promotion of alternative development; conducting financial investigations on drug trafficking cases; explaining the role of digital currencies in trafficking and the resulting money laundering; dealing with illegal production of various precursor chemicals in the production of narcotics and psychotropic substances as well as the relation between narcotics and the environment were among the agendas of this meeting.

During the meeting, Mohammad Zarei stated that the production of narcotics and poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has long been a source of income and livelihood for farmers; so Afghans must be encouraged to move away from illicit crop cultivation and the sale of poppy and support the transition to licit crop cultivation for a sustainable livelihood.

On the other hand, the reduction of traditional narcotics cultivation may be accompanied by a change to industrial narcotics since in the last 9 months, two large shipments of industrial drugs from Afghanistan have been discovered.

Also, the representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Kyrgyzstan announced that following the ban announced by the Taliban, poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has decreased by 95 percent in 2023.

Global support ‘essential’

In October, Iran anti-narcotics police chief, Iraj Kakavand, in a meeting with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative in Tehran, Alexander Fedulov, called it essential to support Iran in the fight against drug trafficking.

During the meeting, Fedulov said the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been committed to a serious and decisive fight against narcotics at the regional and global level, IRIB reported.

"Considering the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against drug trafficking, the UNODC and the international community support of Iran should be proportionate to the activities and actions at the regional and global level.”

MT/MG