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34 Countries to Jointly Formulate Action Plan to Make ASEAN Drug-Free Zone
Representatives of 34 countries would gather Wednesday in Bangkok to jointly discuss and formulate a comprehensive action plan to make ASEAN a drug-free zone by 2015, the Thai News Agency (TNA) said Tuesday.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan was quoted as saying that they would attend the International Congress to be held in the United Nation Conference Center during October 11-13.
Aside from ASEAN members, representatives are from countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, and international organizations.
ASEAN members agreed at the 33rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting held here in July that they wanted to see the region become a drug-free zone in 2015, in lieu of 2020 targeted originally, Surin said.
To this end, they saw the need to hold the international forum to serve as a venue where ASEAN and non-grouping members could exchange their views and seek a concrete direction to solve the drug problem in the region, he noted.
The drug problem had posed a grave threat to many countries around the world. They were aware of the threat and were attempting to curb it. Still, domestic and international agencies concerned had failed to coordinate their efforts to crack down on drug trafficking, he said.
The foreign minister added a bilateral agreement between China and Thailand would also be signed at the meeting for their cooperation in drug suppression.
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