In the name of God, the Compassionate the Merciful

Mr. Chairman,

Mr. Executive Director,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please accept my congratulation for your deserved election to preside over this session of CND. I would also like to assure you of full cooperation of my country.

After a decade of the adoption of the Political Declaration by the 20^th special session of the UN General Assembly, we are gathered here once again to assess the achievements, goals and targets of the Declaration, as well as its strength and possible weaknesses with the aim of finding practical solutions to control the menace emanating from illicit drugs. 

Even though steps are being taken on demand reduction, unfortunately the amount of abuse prevalence of natural and synthetic drugs and spread of diseases through injecting drugs particularly HIV and hepatitis are greater than ever.

On the other hand, in spite of the worldwide drug control campaign and efforts made in supply reduction by national and international organizations, as well as NGOs, based on the said Declaration, regretfully drug production is increasing and smugglers are still keeping up their mischievous activities.

The consequences of ever increasing of opiate production in Afghanistan (comparing 200 tons in 2001 and 8200 tons in 2007) and newly emerged synthetics, not only has challenged the present drug campaign capabilities of the countries of the region and those of the world community, but also ongoing situation, undermines prospect plans of the South - West Asia in particular.

Mr. Chairman,

There are various factors leading to the escalation of current drug problem as follows:

- Failure of international community to abide by its commitments in reconstruction and realization of alternative development plans in Afghanistan, including alternative cultivation and appropriate drug control programmes;

- Lack of accurate control on precursors in the countries of origin and backtracking in the destination country;

- Being not a priority of drug control in the agenda of foreign forces, present in Afghanistan;

- Insufficient support of consuming countries to the countries in transit routes, based on the principal of shared responsibility;

- Massive flow of the synthetic drugs from Europe and other parts of the world towards Asia and the Middle East;

- Inappropriate approach towards the production of stimulants and psychotropic substances.

Mr. Chairman,

The Islamic Republic of Iran due to its geographical situation is still suffering from the negative implications of drug trafficking and in spite of dramatic increase of opiates production in a neighboring country and overburdening consequences of ongoing situation has implemented an integrated supply control and demand reduction plan in 2007 .

In line with the said approach some measures have been taken by my country in the recent years as follows:

- In the field of drug demand reduction, which is multifaceted and needs to be addressed in social, medical and educational perspectives as well as in terms of law enforcement, we have implemented the Nejat (Salvation) plan which is an integrated cooperation of police, treatment centers (public and private), NGOs and families aiming rescue of addicts from all links of narcotic menaces.

- On supply reduction, the cooperation is developing with the international and regional bodies involved in fighting the drug problem, including the UNODC, Paris pact Initiative, EU, ECO and the Triangular Initiative between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

- Moreover, the Islamic Republic of Iran in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars dedicated to development and reconstruction plans of Afghanistan has made the highest amount of drug seizures in the region. In 2007, by conducting operations against drug convoys 560 tons of different types of narcotic drugs were seized which is indicative of 38% increase compared to the previous year.

Mr. Chairman,

Despite the commitments undertaken by Member States in the Political Declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its twentieth special session, in which Member States recognized that action against the world drug problem was a common and shared responsibility and expressed their commitment that it must be addressed in a multilateral setting, unfortunately the trends of dramatic increase of opiates production indicate that the problem is still subject to political approaches.

     Having in mind the above-mentioned points, my delegation is of the view that this gathering has to come to the conclusion for convening an especial forum to evaluate the causes of unsuccessfulness in addressing the opiate production in Afghanistan, including through the delegation of responsibility among member states. For achievement a practical solution the following factors could be considered:

1. Promoting close cooperation, exchange of intelligence and operational measures between countries of origin, target countries and countries along the drug transit routes, particularly countries having joint borders.

2. Foreign forces in Afghanistan should reconsider their past performance and compile comprehensive and applicable plans for elimination of cultivation and production of opiates, preventing precursors to, identification of clandestine laboratories in Afghanistan in line with alternative livelihood.

3. Intensifying the activities of international organizations for providing financial and technical assistance to the countries neighboring Afghanistan based on their roles and performances.

4. Reducing the share costs of international projects and increasing the budget allocated to purchasing of equipments.

5. Creating proper mechanisms of regional cooperation for better countering drug-related crimes.

6. Offering training courses to upgrade experts' knowledge about the emerging types of drugs of abuser.

7. Provision of media and forum for exchange of experiences and practices on demand reduction.

8. Requesting all member states, relevant UN agencies, and in particular UNODC to assist transit states specially those  neighboring Afghanistan, based on their performance, by providing adequate financial and technical assistances including detection equipments, to effectively address the drug trafficking problem through a comprehensive and shared plan.

Thank you for your attention