For information only - not an official document

UNIS/CP/847
12 June 2015

Statement of the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, after meeting with the President of Peru, Ollanta Humala

LIMA/VIENNA, 12 June (UN Information Service) - In cordial and productive talks with President Humala, held on 4 June, I informed the President that Peru is a key ally for UNODC, particularly in the areas of alternative development, precursor control, demand reduction, and wildlife and forest crime.

I told President Humala that the increased emphasis on investments in alternative development was also having a significant and positive impact on the cultivation of illicit drugs.

Thanks to the President's support of alternative development, and the excellent work of the country's international partners, including USAID, Germany, and others, Peru now has more surface area covered by alternative crops, around 80,000 hectares (ha), and more families benefiting from alternative development than it does with coca.

The increasing willingness of the Peruvian government to enter into cost-sharing arrangements for programmes is also commendable.  

I also welcomed President Humala's advocacy of UNODC's annual coca survey, which will next be published in July. There have, in recent years, been positive results showing that the surface occupied by coca has fallen from 60,400 ha in 2012 to 49,800 ha in 2013-a drop of 17.5 per cent.

New areas of assistance were also discussed, including the welcome decision by the Peruvian authorities to join the global container control programme co-managed by UNODC and the World Customs Organization. The president and I also found much to agree on with regard to illegal logging and wildlife crime that are ever present threats in Latin America and elsewhere.  

On the UN General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem, to be held in April 2016, I thanked President Humala for Peru's active engagement.

I also informed him that the process offered opportunities for the exchange of ideas and lessons on illicit drugs. The process. I said, will do much to help achieve the goals set out in the Political Declaration and Plan of Action by 2019.

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For further information contact:

David Dadge
Spokesperson, UNODC
Phone: (+43 1) 26060-5629
Mobile: (+43-699) 1459-5629
Email: david.dadge[at]unvienna.org