Official Visit to Singapore by the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, His Excellency Yury Fedotov

1. The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), His Excellency (HE) Yury Fedotov, visited Singapore from 8 to 11 December 2018, as part of his tour of the region. He was accompanied by UNODC officials.

2. While in Singapore, HE Fedotov met with Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs, Mrs Josephine Teo, and Minister of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development, Mr Sam Tan.

3. During the meeting with Minister Josephine Teo on 10 December 2018, the two leaders affirmed the uptick in relations between Singapore and the UNODC in recent years, with several good joint collaborations on international and regional projects on drugs, anti-corruption and correctional rehabilitation. During HE Fedotov’s meeting with MOS Tan on 11 December 2018, they discussed the UNODC’s regional programmes on drug trafficking, transnational organised crime, anti-corruption and terrorism prevention as well as the upcoming 62 ^nd Commission on Narcotic Drugs to be held in Vienna in March 2019. They welcomed the growing cooperation between Singapore and the UNODC, and agreed to explore further collaboration in building the region’s capacity in areas such as drug control, anti-corruption, and countering terrorism and violent extremism.

4. HE Fedotov visited the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA) on 10 December 2018, during which he toured the Step-Up Centre[1] and was given an insight into Singapore’s comprehensive harm prevention approach to tackling the drug problem, including the close cooperation between Singapore authorities and community partners to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-drug abusers.

[1] The SANA Step-Up Centre offers financial, legal, housing, skills training, employment and family support assistance, as well as support groups where recovering drug abusers and their families can share their experiences and provide each other with emotional support.