JOINT EFFORT TO PROTECT THE REGION

The United Nations Drug Control Programme and Thai officials yesterday
expressed a joint vision of a drug-free Asean by 2015.

UN and Thai delegates spoke in advance of a three-day international
congress next week in Bangkok to address this specific goal.

Sandro Calvani, representative of the UNDCP Regional Centre for East Asia
and the Pacific, said ministers of regional nations will come to share
views on steps needed to be taken to achieve a drug-free Asean by 2015.

He said more than a hundred national and international drug control bodies
have a mandate and work plan to reduce drug abuse and drug trafficking in
the region.

He said delegates will discuss issues such as civic awareness on the
dangers of drugs, the social response, building consensus, the rule of law
enforcement and eliminating the supply of illicit drugs by boosting
alternative development programmes.