On September 20, 2022, in Lisbon (Portugal), a meeting of the CARICC delegation headed by the Director Major General of Militia R.Miralizoda with the delegation of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) headed by the Director A.Goosdeel took place.

The meeting was organized in accordance with the Plan of Main Events of CARICC for the 2nd half of 2022 in order to discuss priority areas of cooperation between the two centers.

The CARICC Director informed the EMCDDA delegation about the Center's current activities and proposed initiatives.

In order to intensify practical interaction with the specified European analytical center, the head of CARICC proposed:

• to establish direct contacts between CARICC and EMCDDA for the exchange of information and experience;
• - carry out a regular exchange of information on combating the spread of synthetic drugs in the countries of Central Asia and the European Union.

In turn, the EMCDDA experts informed about the trends in the development of the drug situation in the countries of the European Union, including against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-COVID period. The European side provided information on the spread of synthetic drugs in the Eurozone states, and expressed interest in monitoring the drug situation in Afghanistan.

As part of the component to strengthen cross-border cooperation in Central Asia through the formation of information networks in the departments responsible for ensuring border security of Sub-program 1 of the UNODC Program for the Central Asian States from 12 to 16 September 2022 at the Faculty of Retraining and Advanced Training of the Higher Military Customs Institute of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, CARICC employees conducted a basic training course on the operation of geoinformation software ESRI "ArcGIS" and "SAS Plaet".

During the training, the basic theoretical knowledge and practical skills in organizing and conducting strategic data analysis using geoinformation software products were provided to participants.

The training course based on a combination of several teaching methods, according to the principle: story-show-consolidation of the material covered by solving practical exercises using MS Excel and geoinformation software.

The participants of the training course noted that the training material met their expectations and was of practical interest for organizing and conducting strategic data analysis. Also, the task force assured event organizers and instructors that learning how to use ArcGIS software and its subsequent application will increase the capacity of employees in the field of strategic data analysis.

On September 2, 2022, students of the Faculty of Initial Professional Training of the Almaty Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan named after M. Esbulatov visited CARICC.

The meeting was also attended by the leadership and teaching staff of the aforementioned Academy, as well as the Interdepartmental Center for the Training of Specialists in Combating Drug Crime.

The delegates were briefly provided with information about the main activities of the Center and the prospects for its development, analytical products of CARICC, the current drug situation in its countries, as well as the results of work in the field of combating transnational drug crime, including the detection of clandestine laboratories using the potential of CARICC.

In addition, a constructive exchange of views and experience in the anti-drug sphere took place with the participants of the meeting.

Based on the results of the above visit, within the framework of continuous cooperation between CARICC and the Almaty Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, representatives of this educational institution expressed gratitude to the CARICC employees for conducting an introductory training and noted that such events contribute to improving their professional level and skills.

In August 2022, CARICC specialists jointly conducted assessment missions with a representative of the Regional Program for Afghanistan and neighboring countries in the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, combined with a one-day training to collect and classification of information within the framework of the RO "Reflex" and "Substitution".

On August 18-19, the event, organized on the basis of the Counter Narcotics Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Border Service of the State Committee for National Security and the State Customs Service under the Ministry of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic.

On August 22-23, a similar meeting was held at the DCA training center under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, which was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security and the Customs Committee under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan.

The assessment mission in Turkmenistan was carried out on August 29-30 in the UN building (Akhshabad) with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Border Service and the State Customs Service of Turkmenistan.

During the working meetings, the specialists of the Center presented the results of RO "Reflex-2021" and "Substitution. Phase 2”, as well as plans for the implementation of the next stages of these regional operations aimed at combating with the spread of new psychoactive substances, psychotropic substances and other synthetic drugs, as well as to detect and stop the smuggling of precursors used for drug production. CARICC experts conducted practical exercises on the collection and classification of information within the planned regional operations "Reflex-2022" and "Substitution. Phase 3. The participants also discussed the needs of the competent authorities of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan for the successful implementation of regional operations.