THE Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, Brigadier-General Phone
Swe, has stressed the need for industries to work closely with
the government to prevent precursor chemicals being diverted to
make illicit drugs.
Brigadier-General Phone Swe was speaking on July 11 at the opening
ceremony of the first national seminar and workshop held in Myanmar
to focus on building a partnership between the government and
the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries to tackle the issue.
The two-day event at the Grand Plaza Parkroyal hotel was jointly
organised by the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, under
the ministry, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The joint secretary of the CCDAC, Police Colonel Hkam Awng, said
traders in the chemicals industry had opportunities to detect
suspicious orders for precursor chemicals.
“We need their cooperation,” he said.
The event resulted in the establishment of a partnership committee,
agreed to draft a code of conduct for chemicals industries and
designated priority measures to be taken by the government in
collaboration with the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries
to prevent the misuse of precursor chemicals.
The partnership committee will bring together representatives
of the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector who will report suspicious
orders to the government.
The proposed code of conduct will require chemicals industries
to develop data bases on customers, acquire end user certificates
declaring that precursors will not be used for illicit purposes
and to report suspicious orders.
The coordinator of the UNODC’s project for precursor control
in Southeast Asia, Mr Wong Hoy Yuen, told the opening ceremony
that governments alone could not prevent the diversion of chemicals
for illicit purposes.
“It is clear that governments need good cooperation from
industry to identify orders for precursor chemicals that are suspected
of being channeled for the manufacture of illicit drugs,”
said Mr Wong, who is based in Kuala Lumpur.
“An effective partnership between the chemical industry
and governments in the region would likely have a major impact
on illicit drug manufacture not only in the region but worldwide,”
Mr Wong said.
