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White House Fact Sheet on 1998 Pres



 
 
White House Fact Sheet on 1998 Presidential Certification for Major Drug
Producing and Transit Countries 
February 27, 1998

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U.S. Newswire via NewsEdge Corporation : WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /U.S. Newswire/
-- The following is a White House Overview of 1998 Presidential
Certification for Major Drug Producing and Transit Countries: 

Under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ("the FAA"),the President must
identify and notify the Congress of those countries he has determined are
major illicit drug producing and/or drug transit countries. President
Clinton identified the present list of 30 major illicit drug producing
and/or transit countries and dependent territories and notified the Congress
in November 1997. 

By March 1 of each year, the President must determine whether to certify
that each of the majors list countries is cooperating fully with the United
States, or has taken adequate steps on its own, to achieve the
counternarcotics goals and objectives of the 1988 UN Drug Convention. In
reaching these determinations, the President must consider efforts taken by
these states to stop the cultivation and export of, and reduce the domestic
demand for, illegal drugs. The President is required to examine each
country's performance in areas such as stemming illicit cultivation and
production, extraditing drug traffickers, and taking legal steps and law
enforcement measures to prevent and punish public corruption that
facilitates drug trafficking or impedes prosecut ion of drug-related crimes. 

On February 26, President Clinton certified that 22 countries and dependent
territories cooperated fully with United States or took adequate steps on
their own to meet the international counternarcotics performance standards
of the law. The countries are: Aruba, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil,
China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India,
Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela,
Vietnam. 

The FAA also provides the President with the authority to certify that the
vital national interests of the United States require that a country be
certified -- even if it does not fully meet the criteria for certification.
The President has granted a vital national interests certification to four
countries: Cambodia, Colombia, Pakistan and Paraguay. 

The President denied certification to four countries that do not meet the
statutory standards for certification: Afghanistan, Burma, Iran and Nigeria.
Decertification results in substantial restrictions on most types of U.S.
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