DUSHANBE, March 29, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- A two-day meeting of an Interagency Working Group (IWG) consisting of representatives of counternarcotics agencies of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and the United States (the so-called Northern Route Group) has opened in Dushanbe today.

According to the press center for the Drug Control Agency (DCA) under the President of Tajikistan, the meeting is discussing issues related to interaction in combating drug trafficking and carrying out joint operations to break up transnational drug-trafficking groups being active in the region.

“The counternarcotics agencies of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, the United States and Tajikistan have established exchange of operating data regarding the fight against drug trafficking that allows discovering and breaking up organized criminal groups having sustainable international ties,” the source said.

This IWG was set up in 2010 and it is its sixth meeting.