ASEAN members have reaffirmed their commitment to become a drug-free region, an ASEAN Secretariat press release said Tuesday. This came after the recent special meeting on drug issues in Bangkok, which was attended by ministers responsible for combating drugs and heads of national drug control services in ASEAN countries. During the meeting, delegates shared information, experiences, lessons, and measures to eliminate illegal drug production, trafficking, and abuse. Discussions covered the difficulties and challenges involved in implementing these efforts and ways to strengthen cooperation between countries. Delegates agreed that ASEAN members need to coordinate in cross-border investigation to prevent drug operations on sea, air, and land.

Delegates said under the auspices of the ASEAN Political-Security Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, the relevant authorities in the bloc need to improve their ability and consolidate their operations to achieve the goal of building a drug-free ASEAN by 2015.