It was jointly organized by the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

For two days, prosecutors, law enforcement representatives and judicial experts involved in prosecution of terrorist cases and related international judicial co-operation, had an opportunity to discuss universal conventions and protocols related to nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism and relevant international and regional instruments pertaining to non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Special focus was on international cooperation in criminal matters relating to biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism, including the rule of law aspects of extradition and mutual legal assistance in terrorism related criminal cases.

As Amb. Miroslav Jenca, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of UNRCCA, noted in his opening remarks “the issues to be discussed during the workshop are directly linked to preventive diplomacy since implementation of respective international commitments in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation contribute to maintaining global and regional peace and security”.

“Non-proliferation is also an issue of criminality. We need to keep the world’s most dangerous weapons out of the most dangerous hands" underlined Antonio Maria Costa, UNODC Executive Director, from UNODC Headquarters in Vienna.

Experts from Central Asian states, Afghanistan, USA, Russia and Slovak Republic participated at the workshop. Representatives of eleven international and regional organizations participated and spoke about non-proliferation and combating biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism. Some of these included representatives of the Commonwealth Independent States, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), INTERPOL, the Provisional Secretariat of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN Security Council’s “1540 Committee”.

The event offered an outstanding opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience in the area of non-proliferation and combating biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism and work out practical recommendations.

On 2 December, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan hosted the first consultations on preparation and organization of the International conference on disarmament in Central Asian region and Caspian Basin, which will take place in the first half of 2010. Representatives of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the event.