OSCE Secretary General meets UN Secretary-General and Afghanistan’s Counter Narcotics Minister in Vienna

VIENNA, 16 February 2012 – The OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, met today in Vienna with the UN Secretary-General, Afghanistan’s Minister of Counter Narcotics and other high-level officials to discuss the importance of improving co-operation and co-ordination between the OSCE, UN and other international actors in combating trafficking of opium and heroin originating in Afghanistan.

Meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Zannier said: “No country or international organization can address security challenges in and around Afghanistan by itself; the success of our respective efforts depends on our capacity to build strategic partnerships.”

He highlighted the “fresh political impetus” given to the OSCE’s engagement with Afghanistan through the decision adopted by the 56 OSCE participating States’ foreign ministers last December. Zannier stressed that this decision “expands the scope of OSCE activities, setting the stage for intensified OSCE support to Afghanistan in the run-up to the 2014 withdrawal”, and noted the need for a “more strategic co-ordination and co-operation among international actors” under the leadership of the UN to assist Afghanistan.

The OSCE currently helps Afghanistan strengthen its counter-narcotics agencies, police, customs and border authorities, and promotes the participation of Afghan officials in regional co-operation initiatives.

Zannier assured Zarar Ahmad Muqbel Osmani, Afghanistan’s Minister of Counter Narcotics,  that: “Our Organization, in co-operation with its Central Asian participating States, can further focus training efforts for Afghan personnel on those areas which require further capacity building ahead of the 2014 transition”. The two discussed a recently developed package of projects providing OSCE’s expertise in training staff of law enforcement agencies, increasing counter-narcotics capacities, including with regard to the detection and interdiction of chemical precursors, as well as projects related to economic and environmental issues and human rights.

Zannier also met with the Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Vepa Hajiev, CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy James Appathurai.

The meetings took place on the margins of the Third Ministerial Conference of the Paris Pact Initiative. The Conference was supported by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and brought together Ministers and representatives of more than 55 countries, as well as international and regional organizations.