From 14 to 16 November, Ashita Mittal, the UNODC Regional Representative for Central Asia paid a working visit to Astana, Kazakhstan.
The main objective of the mission was to conduct consultations with representatives of government agencies in Kazakhstan on further cooperation in the field of crime prevention, increasing access to justice, police and prison reform, addressing drug use and preventing HIV/AIDS.
Ms. Mittal had bilateral meetings with Mr. Yerzhan Sadenov, Minister of Internal Affairs; Ms. Elvira Azimova, Chairperson of the Constitutional Court; Mr. Artur Lastayev, Human Rights Ombudsperson and Mr. Vyacheslav Dudnik, Vice-Minister of Healthcare.
The UNODC Regional Representative also visited the Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan and took part in the opening of the CASC Network Regional Seminar on use of information technologies in prosecutorial work.
As part of her mission Ms. Mittal also met with Mr. Kestutis Jankauskas, Ambassador of the European Union to Kazakhstan, and Mr. Daniel Rosenblum, Ambassador of the United States of America to Kazakhstan, to discuss EU member states and U.S. support towards UNODC regional and interregional initiatives aimed at countering drug trafficking, organized crime, corruption, and terrorism.
