Mr. Reiner Pungs oversees the Drug Supply Team and Precursor Chemicals at the Regional Office of UNODC for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He has been working for UNODC for over 23 years in South America, Europe and Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He is an expert in chemical precursors and has worked for the secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board for 12 years. He is a Brazilian national with a master’s degree in international relations with concentration in foreign policy and decision making, from the University of Brasilia. His first posting for UNODC was in the Regional Office for Brazil and the South Cone before being transferred to Vienna. In that Office, he oversaw programmes on drug supply, criminal justice, trafficking in humans and smuggling of migrants, transnational organized crime, training of law enforcement, and terrorism.
He is an expert in international development with extensive skills and expertise in dealing with large scale project management and has been working over the last 20 years with chemicals used in the illicit drug manufacture globally. Before joining UNODC, he worked for a variety of agencies, part of the UN system, and for over six years as an international analyst in the Office of the President of Brazil.