In response to the need to improve inter-agency cooperation between law enforcement agencies at a national, regional and international level to counter the problem of drug trafficking from Afghanistan, in late 2004 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)[2] together with the parties to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on sub-regional drug control cooperation Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan launched a project to establish a Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre (CARICC).

[3] On 7–8 February 2006, the institutional documents on the establishment of CARICC, developed by the experts of the participating countries and UNODC, were endorsed at the seventh ministerial review meeting of the parties to MOU held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Provision is also made for other interested countries and international organisations such as Interpol,[4] Europol,[5] World Customs Organization[6] to post liaison officers to CARICC to facilitate cooperation and information flow.

The Agreement on Establishment of CARICC entered into force on 22 March 2009[8] following its ratification by the parliaments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

[9] Afghanistan, Austria, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, USA,[10] Interpol and SELEC,[11] have observer status at CARICC.