The aim of the workshop was to bring together regional drug fighting experts in order to co-ordinate anti-drug activities and identify the key drug and chemical precursors issues, where OSCE could play an effective role in supporting efforts to combat illicit drug trafficking, as well as to study the possibilities of fostering international and regional counter narcotics cooperation.
The geo-strategic position of Europe as well as its better economic situation has been exploited by different criminal syndicates. Indeed, today's Europe faces various problems with drugs that are not country-specific but are transnational in nature.
The OSCE participating States still suffer from being the final destination for drug-trafficking process and they are currently facing an immense danger of escalating drug abuse and need to review the measures adopted by their anti-narcotics forces for combating this menace in order to develop an effective and joint strategy that would deter drug abuse and traffickers. That requires a well co-ordinated OSCE-wide approach to support national drug-fighting strategies. In addition, the European inter-state intelligence sharing and regional co-operation as a part of a broader international co-operation is a necessity and obligation in today's strategic scenario against drugs.
In response to this threat the Strategic Police Matters Unit (SPMU) conducted a regional workshop against illicit drug trafficking on 23-24 November 2009 in Sarajevo which focused more on increased cooperation to fight illicit drug trafficking.