Tajik Deputy foreign Minister Muzaffar Huseinzoda met here on Tuesday with the Regional Representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Central Asia  Ashita Mittal.

According to the Tajik MFA Information Department, during the meeting the sides have expressed satisfaction with the development of cooperation between Tajikistan and UNODC, and discussed issues of interaction in fight against illegal drug trafficking, border management and national capacity building.

UNODC presence in Central Asia began in 1993 with the establishment of the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Today there are Program Offices in all five Central Asian States and Azerbaijan.

With a traditional emphasis on building capacity in counter-narcotics through technical assistance, UNODC activities in the region link national projects on border control with regional projects developing intelligence analysis systems and joint operations.

These include: the Central Asia Regional Information and Coordination Center in Almaty; precursor chemical control; border liaison office project; national drug control agencies; and intelligence lead policing.  All this work is carried out in close cooperation with national and international partners and donors.