U.S. and Turkmenistan Extend Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Cooperation

PAS No 290; August 12, 2010

Charge d’Affaires a.i. Lynne M. Tracy and Turkmenistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Rashid Meredov sign the Amendment (State Dept.)

Ashgabat, August 12, 2010 – Yesterday, the U.S. and Turkmenistan formalized an extension of their ongoing cooperation in the fields of narcotics control and law enforcement assistance in a signing ceremony held at Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The parties signed a fourth Amendment to the existing Letter of Agreement of September 2001 on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Assistance between the Government of the United States and the Government of Turkmenistan.  Deputy Chairman of Turkmenistan’s Cabinet of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rashid Meredov signed the Amendment on behalf of the Turkmenistan Government and Charge d’ Affaires, a.i. Lynne M. Tracy signed the Amendment on behalf of the United States Government. 

The Amendment extends support for the "English Language Training for Law Enforcement Officers (ELT)" and "Counternarcotics Capacity Building for State Counter Narcotics Service (SCNS)" projects.  The goal of the ELT project is to improve the English language proficiency of Turkmenistan's law enforcement officers and to expand the current security relationships with the international community.  The Counternarcotics Capacity Building project for SCNS is designed to increase the interdiction and investigative skills of counternarcotics police.