enforcement officers. The courses were specifically tailored to address the needs of the Afghan National Police. From 17 February to 18 March 2010, the SPMU, in close co-operation with the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, the Tajik Ministry of the Interior and the Drug Control Agency of Tajikistan, conducted two counter narcotic training courses for 35 Afghan police officers at the Police Academy and the Drug Control Agency in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The courses were fully financed by the Government of Japan. From 2-16 March, the SPMU, in close co-operation with the International Drug Fighting Centre at the All-Russian Advanced Police Academy, conducted a counter-narcotics training for 11 Afghan police officers in Domodedovo, Russian Federation. From 25-28 October, the SPMU, in close co-operation with the Tajik Ministry of the Interior, the Drug Control Agency of Tajikistan and the Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe, conducted a training on precursors control and backtracking investigations at the Border Management Staff College. Four Afghan law enforcement officers, four Afghan border officials and 10 Tajik law and drug enforcement officers participated in the course. In a two-week course that began on 9 November in Almaty, the SPMU trained 10 Afghan Police Trainers in a training-of-trainer course on counter-narcotics at the Police Academy of Kazakhstan. The course was fully funded by Kazakhstan. On 8-9 July 2010, the Chairmanship, with support of the SPMU and in partnership with UNODC, organized a “Conference on Combating the Threat of Illicit Drugs and Strengthening Control of Precursor Chemicals” in Vienna. Some 120 participants from 53 OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation as well as 8 international organizations took part in the conference. The conference was devoted to the co-operation practices and regional mechanisms to prevent and combat trafficking in Afghan opiates and the supply of precursors to Afghanistan; enhancement of the OSCE role and its assistance to participating States in combating illicit trafficking in drugs and psychotropic substances as one of the most profitable and dangerous forms of trans-national organized crime. On 20-21 October, the SPMU, in co-operation with the Ministry of the Interior of Lithuania, organized a “Regional High Level Expert Workshop on Comprehensive Co-operation in Synthetic Drug Supply Reduction in the Baltic Region” in Vilnius. 45 representatives from nine OSCE participating States of the Baltic region as well as five international organizations active in the field of combating drugs participated in the event. The workshop aimed at enhancing the OSCE role and its assistance to participating States of the Baltic region in combating the production and trafficking in synthetic drugs. Policing OnLine Information System (POLIS)11 In 2010, the SPMU continued to serve as the main collection point and central repository for OSCE police-related information and institutional knowledge, providing an online platform – the Policing OnLine Information System (POLIS) - for sharing and exchanging information resulting from OSCE activities, local initiatives and development work of other international organizations and agencies in the field of policing. In 2010, the SPMU conducted an in-depth review of POLIS and prepared a strategic plan with a view to fully exploit the capabilities and potential of the system. The plan was shared with all relevant stakeholders. 11 See http://polis.osce.org/ 21