DUSHANBE, June 5, 2014, Asia-Plus – Law enforcement experts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations have gathered in the Tajik capital to discuss the drug trafficking prevention issues.

According to the Tajik Drug Control Agency (DCA) press center, the meeting that took place at the Tajik counternarcotics agency on June 5 discussed issues related to cooperation in combating drug trafficking, carrying out joint actions to prevent trafficking in psychotropic substances, synthetic narcotics and chemical substances used for production of narcotics.

The meeting reportedly ended with signing of a protocol.  The document was inked by law enforcement experts from Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and China.

The fifth meeting of heads of the competent bodies of the SCO member nations is expected to take place in Dushanbe on June 19.

Founded by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on June 15, 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization.  Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.

The Organization currently has six full members -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, Iran, Pakistan and India are four observer states, and SCO’s dialogue partners include Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey.