Us And Central Asian Law Enforcement Agencies Cooperate In Fighting International Crime

After the September 11 acts of terrorism, the US stepped up interaction with law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan, Kirghizia and Uzbekistan, regarding these states as a united front to combat international crime in all manifestations, said US ambassador to Kazakhstan Larry Napper at a regional conference that has opened today in Alma Ata on fighting organized crime, terrorism, drug business and trade in people. The seminar was organized on the initiative of the US embassy to Kazakhstan, under the auspices of the republic's Interior Ministry, for officers of the Prosecutor's Office, secret services and the border guard of Kazakhstan, Kirghizia and Uzbekistan. FBI and US Justice Department experts hold classes. According to Larry Napper, the conference is a practical implementation of the program of interaction between US and Kazakh law enforcement agencies, approved by the two presidents during Nursultan Nazarabayev's visit to Washington last December. Within the framework of this program, the US will step up financing of projects on training and retraining of secret service officers of these republics. This might as well be technical and information cooperation. It is not ruled out that in the future Kazakhstan and the US might sign an agreement on mutual extradition of criminals and those wanted.