On 3 November 2020, the 10th Meeting of the Heads of the Competent Authorities for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking of SCO Member States, hereinafter referred to as the Meeting, took place via videoconference. Attendees included representatives of the SCO Secretariat.
Police Major General Kirill Smurov, First Deputy Head of the Main Directorate for Drug Control of the Russian Interior Ministry, and Bakhtiyor Khakimov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the SCO, greeted the participants on behalf of the presiding Russian party.
Attendees included Ms. B. Radhika, Deputy Director-General of the Narcotics Control Bureau, the Republic of India; Tlegen Matkenov from the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Ma Yangchun from the State Anti-Drugs Committee of the People's Republic of China; Bakyt Matmusayev from the Interior Ministry of the Kyrgyz Republic; U. F. Hayat from the Ministry of Narcotics Control of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Murtazo Haydarzoda from the Narcotics Control Agency, subordinated to the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, and Olim Narzullayev from the National Information-and-Analytical Centre for Narcotics Control, subordinated to the Government of the Republic Uzbekistan.
During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the narcotics situation in SCO member states, prospects for expanding international cooperation in countering illicit narcotic drug trafficking and measures to expand practical cooperation between narcotics control agencies of SCO member states in a friendly and constructive atmosphere.
They reaffirmed their commitment to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, amended by the 1972 Protocol, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances. They underscored the unshakeable nature of the three basic UN conventions and noted that the documents were the cornerstone of the international narcotic drugs control system.
They voiced concern over the steadily increasing production of narcotic drugs that seriously threaten regional and international security and stability. They also highlighted new narcotic drugs production trends, such as an increase in the share of synthetic drugs and the relocation of heroin laboratories from Afghanistan.
They confirmed the fact that the use of modern information and telecommunications technologies and electronic financial tools for criminal purposes continued to have a negative impact on national, regional and global security.
They gave a high assessment of the 2019 and 2020 International Anti-Drug Operation Spider Web.
They voiced their readiness to expand practical counter-narcotic cooperation between the competent authorities of SCO member states in the bilateral and multilateral formats.
Following the meeting the parties:
— welcomed the approval by the SCO Council of National Coordinators of a draft statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Heads of State Council on countering the drug threat, drafted by experts of competent authorities of SCO member states during working groups' meetings;
— decided to continue work on the draft working plan for the upcoming period (until 2023) to implement the action programme for fulfilling the Anti-Drug Strategy of SCO member states for 2018-2023 and approving it under the established procedure in 2021;
— modified the lineup of the working groups of the Meeting of the Heads of the Competent Authorities for Combating Illicit Drug Trafficking of SCO Member States.
The parties reaffirmed their intention to further advance common approaches and cooperation in combating illicit drug trafficking and strengthening the current international drug control system at the UN and other international counter-narcotic forums.