Asian Countries Agree on Drug Cooperation  

   HANOI (May 15) XINHUA - Six Asian countries signed a 
series of  agreements here on Friday designed to strengthen 
cooperation on drug  control.
   The agreements cover joint projects to reduce demands 
for drugs among  high risk groups of abusers, improvement 
of drug abuse data collecting  systems, and cross-border 
cooperation for reducing opium poppy  cultivation.
   The agreements were signed at the end of a two-day 
meeting of senior drug-control officials from Cambodia, 
China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand  and Vietnam who reviewed 
the drug control situation in the region.
   During the meeting, participants discussed positions to 
be taken by the  six countries at the United Nations 
General Assembly Special Session on  Drugs scheduled to be 
held in New York from June 8 to 10, a press  release aid.
   The meeting also discussed a global strategy for 
elimination of illegal  crops by year 2008, the release 
added.
   

Asia drug meet inks new deals, but no extradition  

By Andy Soloman  
   HANOI, May 15 (Reuters) - Anti-drug chiefs from six 
Asian countries agreed to three new projects on Friday to 
boost the fight against narcotics, but key extradition 
agreements have yet to reach the table, officials said.
   "We discussed, to a certain extent, the issue of the 
extradition of drug-related criminals, however that 
requires bilateral cooperation and we are not going deeply 
into this matter," said General Le The Tiem, Vietnam's 
deputy interior minister.
   Tiem was speaking at a joint news conference mid-way 
through the last day of a two-day meeting in Hanoi of 
officials from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, China, Myanmar and 
Thailand.
   Of the six countries, only Thailand said it had 
extradition agreements -- with the United States, Malaysia 
and Britain -- in place for drug-related crimes.
   Organised under the United Nations Drug Control 
Programme (UNDCP), the meeting was geared towards 
reinforcing collaborative measures and following up a 
Subregional Action Plan for drug control approved in 
Bangkok last July.
   A joint declaration said the six countries were gravely 
concerned at the increasing seriousness of the drug problem 
and that the situation in Asia required immediate 
attention.
   The countries wanted to be free of illicit drug 
production, trafficking and use, and agreed to eradicate 
illicit narcotic crops cultivation, the declaration stated.
   Christian Kornevall, UNDCP representative for East Asia, 
said the talks were cordial and marked another step towards 
greater cooperation between six countries that were major 
sources for the production or trafficking of opium and 
heroin.
   "There is light in the tunnel that these countries...at 
an operational level might exchange sensitive information," 
he told Reuters. "In this region you don't catch the big 
fish without prior information."
   The three new projects, with a combined cost of $4.04 
million, concentrated on demand reduction, improved drug 
abuse data collection and alternative development 
cooperation.
   The region in which the borders of Laos, Myanmar, China 
and Thailand converge is the infamous Golden Triangle, one 
of the world's major opium growing and heroin refining 
areas, while Vietnam and Cambodia have become increasingly 
important international trafficking routes.
   The UNDCP says Myanmar, together with Afghanistan, 
accounted for 90 percent of global illicit opium production 
in 1996/97.
   Colonel Ngwe Soe Tun, head of the Myanmar delegation, 
said there were still around 81,000 hectares (200,000 
acres) of opium being grown in the country this year and 
the crop was likely to yield 600-800 tonnes. This was far 
less than the 2,500 tonnes claimed by some critics, he 
added.
   Sorasit Sangprasert, deputy general secretary of 
Thailand's Narcotics Control Board, said opium poppies had 
been almost totally eradicated in Thailand and that by the 
end of this year Bangkok would destroy up to 75 percent of 
the remaining 903 hectares (2,231 acres), leaving a harvest 
of just seven tonnes of opium.
   Laos' anti-drug chief, Ounseng Vixay, said his country 
had stepped up its fight against narcotics.
   "We now have life imprisonment (for serious drug 
offences) but we don't have the death penalty yet," he 
said.
   He added that he expected the 1997/98 crop to produce 
126 tonnes of opium, down from 140 tonnes the previous 
year.
   Vietnam government figures show the country has 
eradicated most opium cultivation with only 427 hectares 
(1,055 acres) harvested from the 1996/97 crop, down from 
12,199 hectares (30,144 acres) in 1991/92.
   The six countries are expected to attend a United 
Nations General Assembly special session on the 
international drug problem, scheduled for New York from 
June 8-10.