{"id":869,"date":"2026-10-30T14:13:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/?p=869"},"modified":"2026-10-30T14:13:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:13:48","slug":"regional-conference-in-tunis-examines-mechanisms-and-latest-developments-in-combating-drugs-across-the-arab-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/?p=869","title":{"rendered":"Regional Conference in Tunis Examines Mechanisms and Latest Developments in Combating Drugs Across the Arab Region"},"content":{"rendered":"

TUNIS<\/strong><\/span> \u2014 The 40th Arab Conference of Heads of Drug Control Agencies opened on Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers in Tunis.<\/p>\n

The conference will address key topics, including the establishment of an Arab Drug Observatory, trends and threats arising from synthetic drugs, and international developments in the field of narcotics\u2014covering production centers, consumption patterns, smuggling methods, and counter-strategies\u2014along with their overall impact on the Arab region.<\/p>\n

The event also serves as a platform to review the experiences and national plans of member states in combating illicit drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as the outcomes of meetings held by procedural sub-working groups on drug control.<\/p>\n

In his opening address, Mohamed ben Ali Koman, Secretary-General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, emphasized that exchanging experiences and sharing best practices in drug control would occupy a “substantial share” of the conference’s deliberations. He added that examining emerging drug trends will help mitigate their repercussions across Arab nations.<\/p>\n

Koman noted that the conference was preceded by the annual meeting of the Working Group on the Immediate Exchange of Information on Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. He also highlighted the second meeting of focal points for the Arab Drug Observatory, which the General Secretariat began establishing last year following a recommendation from the conference.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, he stated that the multidisciplinary Arab team of experts tasked with addressing the drug problem\u2014composed of representatives from various relevant drug enforcement and regulatory authorities\u2014will hold a meeting tomorrow.<\/p>\n

For his part, the President of the Conference, Tariq Abu Shaafa (Libya), stressed in his speech that the growing challenges associated with drug proliferation, evolving illicit trafficking methods, and the links between transnational criminal networks and other organized crimes necessitate continuous enhancement of coordination, information sharing, and expertise exchange. He underscored the need to bolster intelligence and operational cooperation to elevate the efficiency of security responses and effectively combat these crimes.<\/p>\n

In the same vein, Abu Shaafa reiterated that global developments in drug trafficking techniques\u2014along with the spread of synthetic drugs and psychotropic substances\u2014require strengthening Arab security cooperation, intensifying the exchange of information and expertise, and unifying efforts to confront smuggling networks and organized crime.<\/p>\n

The conference brings together representatives from law enforcement and drug control authorities across Arab countries. Notable attendees include Abdelrahim Benyakhlef, Head of the Regional Judicial Police Division at the Fez Security Directorate, and Nofal Benkiran, Head of the Anti-Drug Trafficking Department at the Judicial Police Directorate, alongside delegates from the League of Arab States and the Criminal Information Center to Combat Drugs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).<\/p>\n

Representatives from international and regional bodies are also attending, including the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), the European Union Project on Countering Organized Crime and Terrorism, the International Protection Center, and the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TUNIS \u2014 The 40th Arab Conference of Heads of Drug Control Agencies opened on Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers in Tunis. The conference will address key topics, including the establishment of an Arab Drug Observatory, trends and threats arising from synthetic drugs, and international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-africa","category-tunisia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}