Many Organizations are taking an ever stronger stance in the fight against counterfeiting. In the wake of the events organised or co-organised by the WCO, especially in Dakar (Senegal) in November 2006 and in Geneva (Switzerland) in January 2007 (WCO News-Issue No.52), an International Conference on Combating Counterfeit Medicines was held on 8 and 9 Febryary 2007 in Baku (Azerbaijan).
The Conference was aimed at mobilising the efforts required to develop a strategy for combating the alarming growth in the trade of counterfeit medicines and to enhance international co-operation to effectively and swiftly stamp out type of trafficking.
The major pharmaceutical companies, many administrations and international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the World Intellectual Property Organization contributed to the success of this Conference.
The quality of the presentations by private and public sector speakers made it possible to more effectively highlight the problems linked to trafficking in counterfeit medicines in the Caucasus and to compare legislative approaches. The very high level of political representation (no fewer than seven Ministers at the Conference opening ceremony) ensured there was media coverage of the event.
At the end of the Conference, pharmaceutical company representatives donated a large quantity of medicines to the Azerbaijan Authorities. Finally, in parallel to the Conference and as part of the celebrations to mark the 200 th Anniversary of Azerbaijan Customs, several social and cultural events were held to better inform and raise awareness among consumers about the threat to public health from counterfeit medicines.
16.06.2007 GUAM Secretariat in Kyiv hosted the UNODC Workshop on Nuclear Terrorism The experts informed the participants of the Workshop on recent developments in global counter-terrorism legal framework, the UN instruments in the area of international legal cooperation in countering terrorism, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and other legal aspects of nuclear security, practical issues in the area of international cooperation related to mutual legal assistance and extradition, the human rights aspects of international cooperation in combating terrorism, lessons learned and obstacles encountered in this area, and Illicit Trafficking Database (ITDB).
16.06.2007 Meeting of the Working Group on Combating Terrorism The meeting was held under the presidency of a new Chairman of the WGCTOC, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia Mr. Georgiy Lordkipanidze with the participation also of Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Vilayat Eyvazov, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Mr. Vasiliy Marmazov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Moldova Mr. Nikolay Gumenny, and GUAM Secretary General Ambassador Valery Chechelashvili.
