Hello, and welcome to this edition of Reports from Developing Countries on China Radio International. I am Qi Zhi in Beijing.

In this edition:

This year's World Drug Report warns that progress in drug control is under threat.

Prospects for food security in southern Africa improve.

India will launch a dedicated satellite for the younger generation.

Stay tuned.

Better drug control has driven down the number of people trying illicit drugs. According to this year's World Drug Report, a very low percentage of people have a serious dependence on drugs.

But the annual report also warns that an increase in opium and coca cultivation and the risk of higher drug use in developing countries threaten to undermine that recent progress in drug control.

UN Radio's Diane Bailey has more.

Report

That is a report from UN Radio's Diane Bailey.

Now, a quick look at some other stories from developing countries.
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Prospects for food security in southern Africa has been improved as 2007-2008 agricultural season is coming to an end with harvesting and produce are underway to markets.

According to a report from the Southern African Research and Documentation Center, despite these weather vagaries, overall prospects for the sub-region as a whole are considered favorable, marking a recovery from the previous drought-affected season.

However, the report says significant rises in international prices of fuel and fertilizers have affected the use of key inputs in agriculture, somewhat dampening yield prospects.
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India is to launch a dedicated satellite for youth next year, carrying scientific instruments developed by students from Indian and other foreign universities.

The mini-spacecraft will be launched as a piggyback onboard a polar satellite launch vehicle, carrying a remote sensing satellite.

The various instruments, developed by graduate and postgraduate students of universities from India, Russia and other countries, will study and share data on earth imaging, atmospheric applications, solar emission and galactic observations.
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Egyptian public universities will start applying international education quality standards as of July.

The Egyptian Minister of Higher Education Hani Hillal termed quality education as a prerequisite for education for sustainable development.

He highlighted the importance of quality education for Egyptian educational institutions to stand on "the same footing" with their international peers, as well as its role for Egypt and its labor force to be able to survive in today's highly competitive and fast-developing world.
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Up to 41 foreign oil firms are now qualified to participate in Iraq's coming licensing round for oil and gas contracts.

According to the Iraqi oil ministry, 6 more state-owned oil companies are added to 35 companies qualified in mid April to won rights to bid tenders to develop oil and gas fields in Iraq.

Iraq oil reserve is reportedly to be the world's third-largest, which needs billions of dollars investment to overhaul its oil industry infrastructure and increase oil and gas output after 13 years of sanctions and war.　
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Some 40 to 50 million old phones are dumped across the world every year with more people using mobile phones and frequently upgrading models.

Chairman of the Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative, Marco Buleti told an international conference in Bali, Indonesia, that the return rate of mobile phones to be recycled is below 10 percent in the world.

He said the issue of waste from dumped mobiles phones is significant as a lot of problematic materials are left, the toxic waste can seep into the land and the burning plastic can make air pollution.

Instead, the expert said if properly utilizing these resources, a ton of recycled old phones can generate up to 230 grams of gold.
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And that concludes this edition of Reports from Developing Countries, brought to you by China Radio International. For more news and in-depth reports, please visit us online at crienglish.com.

I am Qi Zhi in Beijing. Thanks for listening.