As chair of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS,) the delegation from Belarus discussed the combating of organized crime and drug trafficking in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.

Countries within the CIS face the trouble of terror plots being financed in part from organized crime syndicates, corruption, the import and transit of illegal drugs and illegal use of information and communication technologies.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Valentin Rybakov spoke of these issues facing CIS nations and how the implementation of measures in the CIS should also be multilateral. He also said that U.N. agencies, specifically with the U.N. Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), should play a large role in combating this. The successful fight against human trafficking was cited as an example.

Rybakov said that he had confidence that a new impetus of cooperation between the CIS and the UNODC would succeed in the U.N. General Assembly.