MOSCOW. March 9 (Interfax) - President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law ratifying the agreement to set up a Central Asian regional information and coordinating center for combating illicit trade in drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, the Kremlin reported on Wednesday.
The agreement was signed by Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The center is being formed under the aegis of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and it will help broaden cooperation between the Central Asian countries in combating drugs and to lay common approaches to the problem of combating drug trafficking globally.
The center will be a permanent agency responsible for assisting joint international operations to combat drug trafficking and will gather, store, protect, process and use information on trans-border drug trade.
The law was passed by the State Duma on February 22 2011 and upheld by the Federation Council on March 2.