Address by Mr.Kassymzhomart Tokaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the London Conference on Afghanistan, Counter-narcotics Session (January 31, 2006)

Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the very outset, I wish to express my deep appreciation to the governments of UK and Afghanistan for their invitation to this Conference which demonstrates our support to the Afghan Compact.

As it is very well-known, the counter-narcotics struggle is closely connected to funding terrorism activities, instability of social, economic and political situations, international crimes. The scale of narcotics production in Afghanistan proves that this pressing problem requires a sustainable and long-term cooperation of the Afghan’s government agencies with the international community.

Kazakhstan welcomes the steps taken by the Governments of Afghanistan and UK to deepen interaction with all international institutions involved in the counter-narcotics program in Afghanistan which resulted in declining of opium cultivation in 2005. However, we still have a long way to go as the statistic shows that during last 10 years the level of drug crimes in Central Asia has increased by 5 times and the situation has the tendency for further aggravation.

Fully realizing the importance of combining and coordinating counter-narcotics efforts Kazakhstan is ready to work closely with Afghanistan both on bilateral and multilateral levels. In this connection our country suggests and will carry out following actions.

1. During the upcoming visit of Minister of Counter Narcotics of Afghanistan Mr. Habibulla Kaderi to Kazakhstan this year we will discuss the issues of bilateral cooperation in the fight against drugs production and trafficking in order to take joint and effective measures in this area.

2. Kazakhstan is planning to sign with Afghanistan the Agreement on Cooperation on Combating Illicit Trafficking of Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, their Analogues and Precursors and Abuses to create appropriate legal basis for our mutual cooperation.

3. Within the framework of the first meeting of Kazakh-Afghan Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, which will be held this April, the assistance by Kazakhstan on reconstruction of agriculture sector of Afghanistan will be considered as a top priority, in particular, we are to supply seeds, mineral fertilizers, and agricultural equipments to Afghanistan as a countermeasure to opium cultivation.

4. We suggest to adjust or universalize the national legislation of Afghanistan with the legislations of the Central Asian states in order to put a barrier to drugs trafficking and improve the effectiveness of cooperation.

5. Kazakhstan urges to speed up the process of launching the so called international counter-narcotics belt around Afghanistan. To this aim, we actively participate in the UN led project on establishing of the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Center (CARICC). This Center will become a regional body dealing with coordination of anti-drug activities, analyzing general situation and promoting information exchange between its member-states.

Participation of Afghanistan in the CARICC is a precondition for its effectiveness. The Foreign Ministers Meeting of the parties to the Memorandum of Understanding on Sub-regional Drug Control Cooperation will be held on February 7-8, 2006 under the auspice of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. During the Ministerial meeting the Agreement on the location of the CARICC office is going to be signed by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In its turn, Kazakhstan proposed Almaty as a venue of the CARICC Centre.

6. Among the other regional structures on combating the illicit drug trafficking I would like to refer to the role of the Organization of Collective Security Treaty (OCST). Recently, the OCST successfully carried out joint counter-narcotics operation "Channel-2005" in Kazakhstan. We are planning to invite the respective agencies of Afghanistan, India and Mongolia to participate in the next operation.

The OCST has established a working group on Afghanistan to promote interaction with the government of this country.

7. Yet another regional effort meant to deal with the illicit drug trafficking is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Taking into account the geographic representation of the SCO we can say that it has all the potential for contributing into the success of our common endeavor. Last year the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group has been established to promote interaction in the fight against drug trafficking as well political and economic cooperation.

Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and gentlemen,

We hope that the London Conference will be crowned with eventual success, particularly in terms of consolidating joint actions to eradicate a nutrient environment for activities of illicit drug dealers. Kazakhstan is convinced that democratic and prosperous Afghan state will not be achieved unless this problem is tackled jointly and effectively. The counter-drug fight has to become a success story. It is extremely important if we speak about the success of the Afghan compact.

Thank you for attention.