Annex ‘A’

Annex ‘A’

Yangon Declaration

We, the delegations of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China , the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Union of Myanmar, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United Nations International Drug Control programme participating in the Ministerial Meeting of Signatory Countries of the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding on Drug Control in Yangon on 11 May 2001, are:

Deeply concerned about the rapid increase and seriousness of illicit production, trafficking and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances especially Amphetamine Type-Stimulants ( ATS ) as well as the diversion of precursors in the East Asia region and worldwide:

Aware of the pernicious effects of illicit drugs on individuals, families, communities as well as on the social, economic and political fabric of societies;

Recognizing the importance of adhering to the International Drug Control Conventions and implementing the Resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs;

Bearing in mind in particular the commitment made in the Political Declaration, the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction and measures to enhance international cooperation to counter the world drug problems as adopted at the Twentieth Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly and the Bangkok Political Declaration and the ACCORD Plan of Action endorsed in October 2000.

Stressing the importance role of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme for concerted international action for drug control and prevention in the region and worldwide;

Acknowledging the close link between international trafficking of illicit drugs and other transnational organized crime including money laundering, trafficking and exploitation of humans and corruption;

Realizing that the illicit drug situation in East Asia requires immediate attention and calls for further strengthened joint policy level efforts and result-oriented collaboration at the cross-border, bilateral, regional and international levels;

Encouraging and Facilitating new initiatives together with other countries of the region and with other regions which face similar threats by illicit drugs, while maintaining the strong cooperation among the six MOU countries and the Subregional Action Plan.

We hereby jointly declare that we:

Reconfirm the commitment to the joint and forceful combating of illicit drug production, trafficking and consumption in the region in compliance with UN conventions through balanced , comprehensive and multidisciplinary initiatives with a view of shared responsibility for the achievements;

Confirm the commitment to implement the ACCORD Plan of Action In pursuit of a drug-free ASEAN 2015 “and to participate in the regional cooperative mechanism to execute and monitor the progress towards the achievements of the goals established by the Plan.

Reaffirm the commitment to contribute financially and in kind to the Subregional Action Plan on Drug Control and the MOU Addendum on Partnership to the 1993 MOU and reaffirm the importance of active participation by all MOU members in the implementation of the policies and projects of the Action Plan and the determination to deploy in a timely fashion and as a matter of high priority the resources required to successfully meet set objectives:

Encourage the member countries to strengthen the national capacities for planning, coordinating, managing and implementing drug control efforts and to extend in a proactive manner in kind and technical assistance and support to other signatory countries as required for their fulfillment of the commitments under the subregional cooperation frameworks as well as in support of their national drug control plans;

Reaffirm the importance of precursor control and the need to continue to actively pursue all means to tighten control measures for such chemicals within the MOU countries as well as in cooperation with other countries of the East Asia and the Pacific region and other regions;

Call for the establishment and strengthening of technical and operational level cross-border cooperation among the MOU countries as well as other countries of the region in order to increase the efficiency of the fight against drug trafficking and related crimes across common borders;

Welcome the broadened mandate at UNDCP / ODCCP that will overtime increasingly facilitate coordinated response to such international organized crime that is closely linked to drug production and trafficking;

Commit ourselves to pay particular attention to the rapidly increasing problem in the region of Amphetamine Type Stimulants ( ATS ) and to develop strategies and programmes individually and jointly to address this problem in the MoU countries beyond, especially noting that ATS today is spreading rapidly among new very large target groups such as urban middle class youth;

Call upon all countries to accelerate their efforts to stem the rapidly increasing spread of HIV / AIDS through injecting drug use;

Commit ourselves to work toward strengthened and harmonized legal frameworks that will allow more efficient national efforts as well as closer legal cooperation between countries;

Urge to work closely with the United Nations International Drug Control Programme to develop an objective, cost-efficient and sustainable system for monitoring and verification of illicit poppy and cannabis crop cultivation using internationally recognized scientific methodologies;

Call upon the member countries to pay particular attention to the monitoring and reporting of achievements in the implementation of Declarations and Resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the ACCORD Plan of Action.

Request the international community and donor countries to join UNDCP in providing political and financial support and assistance to the subregional and national programmes of the countries of the region in the fight illicit drug production, trafficking and consumption;

Stress the importance of promoting cooperation and partnership with other international and national agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector in the fight against illicit drugs.