On March 30, 2023, the UNODC Regional Representative for Central Asia, Ms. Ashita Mittal, who arrived in Turkmenistan to participate in the Regional Training on Combating Illicit Drugs and New Psychoactive Substances, which was held jointly with the OSCE Center on March 28-29 in Ashgabat, visited the customs point "Artyk" on the Turkmen-Iranian border.

The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the activities of the customs post and identify new areas of cooperation between UNODC and the Government of Turkmenistan.

Ms. Ashita Mittal highly appreciated the infrastructure created at the Artyk customs post. During the conversation, she noted that the Artyk customs post on the Turkmen-Iranian border plays an important role in the development of cargo transportation and trade between the countries of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia. The technical support of the post, the use of modern information technologies play an important role in the fight against drug trafficking.

Then the prospects for further cooperation were discussed, in particular the issue of creating interactive cabinets and situational centers for joint use here by employees of the customs and border services.