DUSHANBE, April 5, 2011, Asia-Plus -- The Government of Tajikistan has endorsed a draft memorandum of cooperation between the Drug Control Agency (DCA) under the President of Tajikistan and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at the U.S. Department of Justice, the DCA press center reports.

The document provides for cooperation between the two counternarcotics agencies in exchanging operational ands search information, carrying out joint investigation and search operations to discover and break up drug routes and transnational organized crime groups, mutually informing of drug crimes involving citizens of the sides, exchanging experience through conducting joint working meetings, conferences and workshops, assisting with training of personnel and providing consultative assistance, the source said.

According to him, the draft memorandum is based on the agreement on the law enforcement cooperation between the governments of Tajikistan and the United States signed in January 2003.

The mission of the DEA is to enforce the controlled substances laws and regulations of the United States and to bring to the criminal and civil justice systems of the United States, or any other competent jurisdiction, those organizations, and principal members of organizations, involved in the growing, manufacture, or distribution of controlled substances appearing in or destined for illicit traffic in the United States; and to recommend and support non-enforcement programs aimed at reducing the availability of and demand for illicit controlled substances on the domestic and international markets.