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Sub-Regional Senior Officials Meeting on Drug Control Opens in Yangon
A Senior Officials Meeting among China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand opened in Yangon on August 10 to enhance cooperation for control and suppression of narcotic drugs in the sub-region.
This is the first meeting of its kind of the four countries hosted by Myanmar.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day meeting, Myanmar Home Affairs Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing said illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, crimes related to narcotic drugs, terrorism, the laundering of proceeds from narcotic drugs have an adverse effect on the political, economic and social well-being of the nations of the world, and it is also detrimental to regional peace, security and stability.
Tin Hlaing, who is also chairman of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, noted that the problem of narcotic drugs cannot be addressed by any one country alone, calling for cooperation and coordination in the sub-region to find a solution.
He also urged the international community not only to provide assistance but also to take an active role in the fight against drugs.
The initiation of the four-country meetings at three levels -- senior officials meeting, ministerial meeting and meeting of the heads of states -- was raised by Myanmar and Thailand during Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's visit to Yangon in June and the present meeting was agreed upon during Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung's visit to Bangkok later in the month.
The senior officials meeting will be followed by a ministerial meeting by the end of this month in Beijing.
China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand and the United Nations Drug Control Program are founding members of the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding signed in New York for drug control in the sub- region, the membership of which was later enlarged to conclude Cambodia and Vietnam in 1995.
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