Eskandar Momeni on Tuesday, on the sideline of his visit to Vienna, elaborated on the situation of the region in terms of drug production and noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran is in the forefront of countering narcotics and there is no different for us whether drugs are consumed within the Islamic Republic of Iran or transited to European countries.
Over the first six months of this current Iranian year (starting on March 21), the Islamic Republic of Iran has discovered about 600 tons of narcotics, which, if not discovered by Iran, we would have witnessed more drug trafficking and distribution in European countries.
He also outlined the balanced strategy of Iran in the fight against narcotics and emphasized the readiness of the Islamic Republic of Iran to share its experiences and enhance cooperation with Austria.
Although the geographical and geopolitical differences between the two countries vary in strategy and performance, "we can cooperate in exchanging experience and technical cooperation and sharing experiences of the past three decades", he added.
Momeni, meantime, pointed out the serious responsibility of the European countries to cooperate in the fight against narcotics, noting that the international community does not abide by its obligations under the principle of shared responsibility.
Austrian Police Chief General Franz Lang said during the meeting that "we are aware of Iran's anti-narcotics operations, such as the discovery of 870 tons last year and over 1500 operations; namely five operations per day is truly amazing".
"We are ready to use Iran's valuable experience in the field of combating narcotics because Iran has very good experience in this field," he added.
The two sides agreed on the need to expand cooperation on Afghanistan as well as on police interactions and it was also agreed to implement joint plans between the two countries.
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