8 October will be held in Brussels an exchange meeting between the National Drug Agencies of the European Union (EU) and the countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), promoted by the Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the EU on Drugs, (COPOLAD III) in the framework of the EU-CELAC Mechanism for Cooperation and Coordination on Drugs 

The main objective of the meeting is to strengthen the exchange of technical expertise between CELAC agencies, the European Union and the Embassies of CELAC countries in Brussels, representatives in the EU-CELAC Mechanism on drugs. In addition, the aim is to disseminate the cooperation efforts that are being made in public policies on drugs, as well as to address the challenges of the coming years.

Among the topics to be addressed are the threat that new psychoactive substances pose to public health and the boost that early warning systems need to address them. The strengthening of asset investigations against drug trafficking and the social use of assets seized from criminal networks will also be discussed.

The three working days include a Joint EU/CELAC Seminar on the first day, a second day in which CELAC members will hold an exchange with EU services on drug issues, and a third day that will allow for the participation of the heads of the CELAC National Drug Agencies in the Technical Committee Meeting of the EU/CELAC Mechanism for Cooperation and Coordination on Drugs.

Participants:

- Two deputy ministers from Cuba and Paraguay.

- 29 National Drug Agencies from CELAC countries. 

From Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

From the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. 

- 30 embassies of CELAC countries in Brussels, CELAC representatives to the EU/CELAC Mechanism.

- 14 EU representatives to the EU/CELAC Drugs Mechanism: Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic.

 - EU Institutions: Directorate-General for International Partnerships/ Directorate-General for Home Affairs/ European External Action Service/ Foreign Policy Instruments Service/ COUNCIL of the European Union.

- COPOLAD III Programme Partners: FIIAPP (Spain), International Italo-Latin American Organisation (Italy). GIZ (Germany), European Drugs Agency.

This exchange is organised by the COPOLAD III Programme to contribute to the implementation of the Peace Declaration agreed at the XXIV High Level Meeting of the EU-CELAC Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on Drugs, held in La Paz (Bolivia) on 22 February 2024.

COPOLAD III is an international cooperation programme that promotes technical dialogue and bi-regional cooperation between the European Union and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on drug policies. Funded by the European Union, the programme is led by the Fundación Internacional Iberoamericana de Políticas y Administraciones Públicas (FIIAPP) in consortium with the Organización Internacional Italo-Latinoamericana (IILA), in collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA).

See agenda: https://copolad.eu/en/face-to-face-meeting-of-eu-celac-drug-agencies/