Peru's drug-replacement coffee and chocolate grown in the Apurimac-Ene-Mantaro Rivers Valley (VRAEM) will be featured at the Sixtieth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the governing body of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The international event will be held in Vienna (Austria) on March 13-17.
The Peruvian delegation will be composed of National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida) high-ranking officials, as well as leaders from agricultural producer organizations.
Said representatives will present the country's anti-drug fight actions and intervention policy, as well as economic activities developed in former coca growing areas, including alternative crops.
In this sense, the Inca nation will present award-winning honey specialty coffee and 70% fine cocoa chocolate.
Producers of said crops rely on funding provided by the European Union and Devida.
60th Session
The annual CND meeting will discuss and adopt resolutions concerning the global state of drug control, as well as UNODC's budget and work plan for international anti-drug cooperation.
CND sessions thus prove a favorable scenario to share progress made in implementing alternative crops to reduce coca cultivation. These benefit thousands of farmer families seeking to consolidate social peace in areas threatened by drug-trafficking and terrorism.
CND is the central UN policy-making body in drug-related matters.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is the UN agency in charge of coordinating international drug-control activities.
(END) NDP/LZD/DHT/MVB