Media Center

Press Advisory


2003 ANDEAN COCA SURVEYS TO BE UNVEILED AT OAS PRESS CONFERENCE

  June 15, 2004

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime will unveil its 2003 Andean Coca Surveys during a press conference at the Organization of American States on Thursday, June 17, at 11:00 a.m.—for the first time reporting production trends in three major coca producing countries at the same time.

Last year, the UN reported a substantial fall-off in coca cultivation in the world’s leading producer countries: Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Thursday’s media conference will address such issues as coca production statistics for 2003 and whether production has been declining.

Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, will launch the report while senior officials from all three countries will make comments: Diego Montenegro Ernst, Minister of Agriculture of Bolivia; Luis Alberto Moreno, Ambassador of Colombia to the USA; and Nils Ericsson Correa, Executive Secretary of National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (DEVIDA), of Peru.

The event is hosted by OAS Secretary General César Gaviria and Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) Executive Secretary David Beall.

WHAT: Launch of UN Andean Coca Surveys 2003

WHEN: Thursday, June 17, 2004

TIME: 11:00 a.m.

VENUE: Jose Guerrero, 2nd. Floor
Organization of American States
17th. and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006


The press conference will be web cast live, via Internet (www.oas.org).
Simultaneous interpretation will be available.
A light lunch will be served.

For further information please contact:

Abraham Stein, CICAD, Tel 001 202 4583047 e-mail [email protected]
Lucrecia Baracat, OAS, Department of Public Information, Tel 202 458 6824, e- mail: [email protected]
Kemal Kurspahic, Spokesman, UNODC, Tel: 43-1-26060-5629, e-mail: [email protected]
Mirella Dummar Frahi, External Relations Officer, UNODC, Tel: 43-1-26060-5833, e-mail: [email protected]

Reference: AVI-060/04