In Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), on March 28-29, 2023, a regional workshop on countering illicit trafficking of drugs and new psychoactive substances was held in a hybrid format.

The event organized jointly with the OSCE Center in Ashgabat and the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia. It was attended by delegations of the competent authorities of the countries of Central Asia, Italy, representatives of UNODC, OSCE and CARICC.

Head of the OSCE Center in Ashgabat Ambassador John Macgregor, representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan, UNODC Regional Representative Ms Ashita Mittal, Ambassador of Italy in Ashgabat Mr Luigi Ferrari, Deputy Head of the Embassy of Japan in Turkmenistan Hideki Hosaka spoke at the opening of the seminar.

At the meeting, the participants exchanged of views on the emerging drug situation in Central Asia, and discussed the existing mechanisms to combat drug trafficking in the region.

The delegations of the Central Asian countries made presentations on the national experience in combating the new challenges of the drug threat in their countries.

 Within the framework of the session “Law Enforcement and Legislative Measures to Counter the Spread of New Psychoactive Substances”, a representative of CARICC made a presentation.