Miroslav Jenca, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and the Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia (UNRCCA), expects to have consultations with authorities across the region in the coming weeks, a UN spokesperson told reporters.

UNRCCA was established by the UN last year to help the countries of the region - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - respond more proactively to cross-border challenges and threats, such as terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime and environmental degradation, before they become costlier and more difficult to control.

It is also expected to work closely with the existing UN programmes and agencies operating in Central Asia, as well as with regional groups such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Mr. Jenca, a Slovak diplomat, recently served as head of mission for the OSCE centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He has also served in an array of other diplomatic posts for his country.