Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Bandar Seri Begawan - In fostering better cooperation in the fight against drug abuse amongst Asean member countries, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea, the fourth Asean Plus Three Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime working group meeting on narcotics was held yesterday at the Rizqun International Hotel.

The closed-door meeting saw the discussion of projects conducted by the Asean Plus Three nations in combating drugs abuse in the region. According to their delegates from their respective narcotics control authority, Korea presented the participants of the meeting with updates on the Knowledge-transfer on Narcotics Division project.

The project involved the Korean agency providing assistance to some Asean countries in raising civic awareness of drug-related issues. They had launched the project in Lao PDR in 2007 and this year expanded their efforts to Vietnam and Cambodia. During the meeting the Korean delegates proposed their plans for the future, which included extending their assistance to the

Philippines in 2009 and onward to Brunei, Myanmar and Indonesia in 2010.

The meeting was also an opportunity for the delegates to exchange information on drug trends within their respective nations.

According to the officials from the Central Committee for Drugs Abuse Control (CCDAC) Myanmar, there has been a decline in the production of opium in the nation.

Located in the "Golden Triangle", which straddled Lao PDR, Thailand and Myanmar, opium has been one of the major drug problems faced in the area. In confronting this issue, the government .of Myanmar adopted its 15-year Drug Elimination Plan which spanned from 1999 to 2014.

In the plan, two strategies were implemented in the hopes of eradicating the drug problem, namely, exerting all-round efforts in order to accelerate the anti-drug campaign as a national concern and gradually eliminating the practice of poppy cultivation, while improving the economic and social life of the national races and the border areas.

According to the CCDAC representatives, in the period 1998 to 2007, the Myanmar government has reduced poppy cultivation by 79 per cent and opium production by 64 per cent.

The official told The Brunei Times that this achievement was a "positive trend" since opium cultivation and productions have "decreased effectively".

The Fifth Asean and China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs (Accord) Joint Task Force meeting was also held yesterday, where it aimed to enhance coordination on drugs control in the region as well as overseeing the developments of Accord member countries.

Also taking place yesterday was the Asean Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD) + India Consultation. The meeting has the objective of exchanging information on the flow of precursor chemicals in the region and on cases which involved Asean nationals arrested for drugs violations in India.

The meeting was also an opportunity for delegates to propose projects with regards to drug abuse prevention initiatives.

The meeting was chaired by Hj Abd Aziz OKMB Hj Othman, the acting director of Narcotics Control Bureau. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times