Election of Ambassador Melvin Levitsky to the International Narcotics Control Board

Released by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations

Ambassador Siv: Good afternoon. My name is Sichan Siv. I’m the U.S. Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council. The Council this afternoon has elected Ambassador Mel Levitsky to the International Narcotics Control Board. This is a seat that was left vacant by the resignation of a member. We are very pleased that the United States has been able to recommend Ambassador Levitsky as a candidate to this position, which is so very important. As you know, the United States has contributed over $890 million dollars to about 150 countries to fight narcotic issues. And Ambassador Levitsky is a very well qualified candidate. He will bring a lot of experience and knowledge to the board, and we look forward to his wisdom. That is what happened this afternoon. We’re very pleased that we will return to the board after an absence since 2001. Do you have any questions?

Reporter: Last time around the U.S. was voted off by a lot of countries that have an illicit-drug trafficking going on, and it seemed like almost a deliberate move by the countries to exclude the U.S. the last time around. I guess the last representative was Ambassador Okun and even after he left he seemed to have a similar opinion that there were designs in the works to keep the U.S. off the board. What do you feel significantly changed in that period to welcome the U.S. participation on this board again?

Ambassador Siv: Well I think – I think the Council feels that it’s very important to have somebody from the United States on the board. There are 13 members on the board and we have a very strong record on fighting narcotic issues. But we have a very good candidate; Ambassador Levitsky was at one point Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters, so he really has a lot of experience dealing with the issues (inaudible). And he’s now teaching at Syracuse University the same issue. So the Council Members realized that he’s the best candidate that they could get; that’s why they voted overwhelmingly for Ambassador Levitsky, he got 35 votes this afternoon. Thank you very much.