Officials from Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong Province said Thursday that they all face a formidable task of tackling drug abuse and trafficking.

Officials convened at the third Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Conference on Policy to Tackle Drug Abuse and Trafficking agreed that they must engage in a closer collaboration in the combat against narcotics smuggling and trading.

Agreements on joint education and propaganda campaigns against drug abuse, collaborated drug treatment and lab research were signed at the meeting.

Hong Kong's Permanent Secretary for Security Stanley Ying, Director of the Macao Social Welfare Institute Ip Peng Kin and Secretary of the Guangdong Anti-Drug Committee Chen Shaobo exchanged their respective work experiences in the fight against drugs.

Statistics from the conference suggested that the use of heroin accounted for 70 percent of drug abuse cases in Hong Kong. Most of drug addicts are young people aged at 17, who are motivated by curiosity to taste drugs.

The first two sessions of the conference were held in 2001 in Hong Kong and 2003 in Guangdong, respectively, which helped get through the cross-border cooperation channels in the three regions of different customs jurisdictions under the World Trade Organization.

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2004)