Russian and NATO leaders put under scrutiny the prospects of jointly fighting terrorism and drug trafficking in Central Asia on Friday during NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer's visit to Moscow.

In a meeting with the NATO chief in the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin gave an upbeat assessment of Russian-NATO cooperation, saying the two sides "have passed from general declarations to specific projects," the Interfax news agency reported.

"If Russia and NATO in the near future work out and enforce a pilot project to train experts in combating drugs in Afghanistan and, say, Central Asia, that would make a fair contribution to solving one of the most serious and complicated problems of today, " Putin told de Hoop Scheffer.

De Hoop Scheffer called Putin's proposal "a very important project," saying drug trafficking is a "very destabilizing factor in Afghanistan and also in Central Asia."

Drug trafficking has been rampant in Afghanistan since a US-led war ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.

Putin's proposal came a day after he voiced worries about the growing drug trade and continuing function of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan remains a source of growing drug exports, Putin said Thursday after a summit meeting of a regional security bloc that unites some former Soviet republics.

"We're concerned about the continuing presence of terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, as well as some secret services' involvement in them," Putin said.

Speaking after a meeting with de Hoop Scheffer Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia has information about the periodical transfer of terrorists trained in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan to the Ferghana valley in Central Asia.

"People are being trained in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan with the help of Taliban for acts of terrorism that target Russia," Lavrov said. "Periodically these people are transferred to the Ferghana valley."

"We are ready to work on this with NATO in the framework of our joint plan for fighting international terrorism," Lavrov said.

De Hoop Scheffer said it is "vital" to jointly combat terrorism, which, among others, is a priority in Russia-NATO cooperation.

Source: Xinhua