Regional drug fight

[NewsWhore]

According to Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda, the DR's crime rate stood at 20.2% at the end of 2008. Almeyda made the announcement during the introduction of the "Ministerial Conference on Illegal Trafficking of Drugs, Trans-National Organized Crime and Terrorism as a Challenge for Security and Development in the Caribbean." Eighteen Caribbean countries are taking part in the Conference. Listin Diario reports that President Fernandez had planned to give a speech at the conference, but chose instead to attend the ceremony celebrating the 165th anniversary of the Dominican flag. The conference, which is organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Dominican government, seeks to create a regional plan for preventing and fighting against crime and drug trafficking in the region. CARICOM director general Edwin Carrington also attended the conference while the Director General of the UN office in Vienna Antonio Maria Costa called on nations to protect the region and to be responsible in matters of state security. Costa said that unity was needed in order to fight drug trafficking.

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