Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

UNODC's Gahda Waly Visits Japan


Fri 29 Jul 2022 | 12:53 PM
Ahmed Emam

Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ghada Waly visited Japan upon invitation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan to convene an annual strategic dialogue between the office and their government.

During her visit, she met with a number of Japan's NGOs and high-ranking senior officials, including Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa, who expressed his gratitude to Executive Director Waly for her extensive efforts to ensure the success of the Kyoto Congress, which Japan hosted last year.

Meanwhile, Waly expressed her deep condolences regarding the passing of former Prime Minister ABE Shinzo, as well as her gratitude for the support extended by Japan to UNODC to date.

Their plenary meetings focused on four major themes: trafficking in persons in Ukraine and neighboring countries, combating drugs in Afghanistan, figting terrorism and drug crimes in Southeast Asia; in addition to continuing funding in the budget of UNODC.

Also in this regard, Minister Hayashi and Executive Director Waly recognized the need to strengthen measures against inter alia trafficking in persons in Ukraine and neighboring countries.

Furthermore, Minister Hayashi and Executive Director Waly confirmed that they will work together for the peace and stability of Afghanistan through initiatives such as measures to combat drugs. Based on these discussions, Executive Director Waly requested continued support from Japan in UNODC's efforts to address these emergent issues. Executive Director Waly also stressed the importance of UNODC's role in promoting the rule of law.

Minister Hayashi expressed appreciation for the fact that coordination between Japan and UNODC has produced significant results, in measures against terrorism, measures to combat drugs, and law enforcement capacity building, in regions, centered on Southeast Asia as well as Afghanistan and neighboring countries.

Furthermore, they confirmed that Japan and UNODC would continue working together to establish the rule of law.

It's worth mentioning that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was established in 1997 as a result of the merging of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme.

It carries out research and analyses on illegal drugs and crime, helps countries with the conclusion and execution of conventions related to crime and narcotic drugs and with the development of domestic legislation, and provides technical cooperation for capacity building in countering organized crime and terrorism.