Ambassador Kitano Presented donation from Japanese Drug Abuse Prevention Center to the Executive Director of UNODC

Vienna, 4 March, 2016 – Today, H. E. Mr. Mitsuru Kitano, Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna, presented an invaluable donation from the Japanese Drug Abuse Prevention Center (DAPC) to Mr. Yuri Fedotov, the Executive Director of the UNODC.

The donation amounting to about 18 million yen will be used to support the activities of drug demand reduction programmes of NGOs in developing countries.

During the meeting, Ambassador Kitano mentioned that the activities of civil society are indispensable for drug demand reduction and that the importance of civil society’s involvement in drug demand reduction as it relates to young people are expected to be highlighted at UNGASS (Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the world drug problem). Additionally, he asked for effective and efficient use of the donation.

Mr. Fedotov highly appreciated the donation by DAPC and explained that it has been used in various countries whose local NGOs are in need of implementing projects on drug use prevention. He also stressed that it is a good example of cooperation between a donor country, an NGO and an international organization.