Ministers to meet in Vienna at Central Asia Border Security Initiative

VIENNA, 12 April 2012 – The OSCE, the Austrian Interior Ministry, the EU, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UNDP are holding a ministerial-level meeting of the Central Asia Border Security Initiative (CABSI) on 16 and 17 April.

CABSI, launched by the Austrian Interior Minister in 2003, is a key co-ordination forum for discussing border management, border security and combating drugs in Central Asia. The meeting will focus on challenges including illegal migration, drug smuggling and corruption, as well as the planned drawdown of international forces from Afghanistan.

The conference will be opened by Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner; Russian deputy Interior Minister Sergey Bulavin; Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér; Albanian Interior Minister Bujar Nishani; Turkmenistan’s Minister for National Security Yaylym Berdiyev; OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier; and Yury Fedotov, Director General of UNODC.

Journalists are invited to attend the opening of the meeting from 14.00 to 15.30 on 16 April 2012, in the Neuer Saal of the Hofburg Congress Centre.

Advance registration is mandatory. Please write at least 24 hours in advance of the event to press@osce.org. For admittance to the Hofburg Congress Centre, a valid press identification card is required.