During a recent workshop in Bishkek, secretary of regional programs at the Iranian Drug Control Headquarters Hashem Vahdatyar called for strengthening regional cooperation to counter drug smuggling. “The annual turnover from production and smuggling of drugs in Afghanistan is $68 billion, and the country needs neighboring and other states in the region to help curb the menace,” he said, quoted by IRNA. The regional workshop on the role of mass media in fighting drug trafficking was held in the Kyrgyzstan capital March 10-11 and attended by officials and reporters from Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It focused on efforts by regional governments in checking drug smuggling, mainly through raising media awareness.
