NURGALIYEV ON INTERACTION BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND TAJIK INTERIOR MINISTRIES

DUSHANBE, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - The law enforcement bodies of Russia and Tajikistan have been able to organize a high level of coordination, but their joint activities raise a number of questions that call for solution, Russia's Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said, opening the sixth meeting of the joint collegium of the interior ministries of the two countries in Dushanbe, reports a RIA Novosti correspondent.

"Consistent development of partnership and mutually advantageous relations with Tajikistan is one of the major areas of Russian foreign policy," Mr. Nurgaliyev said.

According to him, the need to develop a strategic partnership is due to the unity of interests in the sphere of security, and to the necessity to unite efforts in countering common threats, including those of a criminal nature.

Mr. Nurgaliyev said that progress in the solution of some problems is not sufficiently energetic.

In particular, these are problems of the struggle against illicit drug trafficking, the minister specified. "We have not yet been able to erect a reliable barrier to organized criminal groups smuggling narcotic drugs," Mr. Nurgaliyev said.

He said that in the first half of 2004 the number of crimes committed by citizens of Tajikistan on the territory of Russia rose by 62.8 per cent, compared with the similar period in 2003. "Practically one in four crimes is connected with illicit drug trafficking," the Russian minister said.

In his opinion, it is very important for the interior ministries of the two countries to exchange latest information on offences committed by organized crime groups "before this information loses its relevance."

Mr. Nurgaliyev also noted that the flow of illegal migrants into Russia is not diminishing, "A considerable number of aliens arriving in Russia for work, among whom there are many citizens of Tajikistan, do not have appropriate permits," the minister said.

Tajikistan's Interior Minister Khumdin Sharipov noted that according to the republic's Interior Ministry, hiding in Russia are about 250 citizens of Tajikistan, suspected of having committed grave crimes, such as banditry and murder. The problem of searching for and extraditing them needs solving, Mr. Sharipov noted.

He said that 68 citizens of Tajikistan on a wanted list had been detained on Russian territory over the recent period. Nineteen of them were extradited to their country. Mr. Sharipov added that extradition of another 53 persons has been waiting for decision since 2001.

The minister also said that over the past year the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan confiscated over six tons of illicit drugs, which is more than 34 per cent of the total amount of narcotics confiscated by all departments in the republic.