Media invited to Press Briefing on Monday 11 March at 2 p.m.
VIENNA, 4 March (UN Information Service) - This year's Commission on Narcotic Drugs will focus on a number of high profile issues in the area of international drug control including the relationship between illicit drugs and the Millennium Development Goals. An area made even more important ahead of the high-level review of the goals in 2015. Side events will cover health, treatment, prevention and drug rehabilitation. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is also presenting a new global report on New Psychoactive Substances, and there will be side events on Alternative Development, as well as meetings on UNODC initiatives in West and Central Asia.
The media are invited to a press briefing by Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, UNODC on Monday 11 March at 2 p.m. in Room M5 in the M-building.
Among those expected to address the Opening Session are: President of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma; Afghanistan's Counter Narcotics Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbel Osmani, the Director of the Federal Drug Control Service, Russian Federation, Victor Ivanov, Colombia's Minister of Justice Ruth Stella Correa and Iran's Minister of Interior and Secretary-General of Drug Control Headquarters Mostafa Mohammed Najjar.
The Opening Session of the Plenary Session and side events are open to the media.
For media accreditation:
Media representatives who wish to attend the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and/or the press briefing and who are not accredited to the VIC should contact press@unvienna.org.
Please register for the press briefing by Friday 8 March by writing to press@unvienna.org. For information on facilities and general information for the media, write to reka.furtos[at]unvienna.org or call + 43 1 26060 4237.
Access to the M-building is via Checkpoint One of the Vienna International Centre. Camera crews should confirm their participation in advance in writing. Media are advised to come to the venue at least half an hour before the briefing to avoid delays at security.
For more information about the 55th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs go to: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CND/session/56.html
For further information please contact:
Reka Furtos
Associate Information Officer, UNIS Vienna
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-4237
Mobile: (+43) 699-1459-7023
Email: reka.furtos[at]unvienna.org
or
David Dadge
Spokesperson, UNODC
Telephone: (+43- 1) 26060-5629
Email: david.dadge[at]unvienna.org
