10:31, June 25, 2010. The cooperation between Cuba and the United States in the fight against drug trafficking has been successful and yielded "positive results," a senior Cuban government official said Thursday.

The two countries' cooperation in the past decade led to the arrest of 62 drug dealers and the smash of 19 illegal drug-trafficking operations, said Yoandrys Gonzalez, a senior official from the Ministry of Interior.

The cooperative relations have been "respectful and professional with positive results," he told reporters.

Both sides share information through the U.S. Interests Office in Havana and in recent years the United States has provided more information, he said.

As a result, the Cuban authorities in 2009 seized 3,186 kg drugs within its territorial waters, mainly packages thrown overboard by international traffickers, compared with only 52 kg drugs intercepted on land in the country.

Cuba has signed the major international conventions against drug trafficking and enacted tough laws in this regard.

In 1987, the UN General Assembly decided to observe June 26 as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking to show its strong determination to achieve the goal of a world free of drug abuse.