Koli Kouame

Who is Koli Kouame?

Koli Kouame was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 6 September 2004 as the Secretary of the International Narcotics Control Board and Chief of the International Narcotics Control Board Secretariat. In this position, Mr. Kouame was in charge of the permanent staff in at the United Nations in Vienna working on the internatiomal drug control treaties. The Board has had predecessors since the time of under the League of Nations, starting in 1909 in Shanghai with the International Opium Commission, the first international drug control conference. The International Opium Convention of 1925 established the Permanent Central Board. That Board started its work in 1929. After the dissolution of the League, the 1946 Protocol Amending the Agreements, Conventions and Protocols on Narcotic Drugs concluded at The Hague on 23 January 1912, at Geneva on 11 February 1925 and 19 February 1925, and 13 July 1931, at Bangkok on 27 November 1931 and at Geneva on 26 June 1936, created a Supervisory Body to administer the estimate system. The functions of both bodies were merged into the Board by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The composition of the Board under the Single Convention was strongly influenced by the 1946 treaty.