Successful completion of the second phase of the COPOLAD programme

The cooperation programme between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean on drug policies, COPOLAD, has successfully closed its activities after four and a half years.

Due to COVID19, the closing ceremony took place through a virtual meeting that welcomed 45 countries from Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union and included more than 200 participants. This event also served as a farewell to the director of the programme for almost 10 years, Teresa Salvador-Livinia.

The meeting was opened by the director of the FIIAPP, Anna Terrón, the government delegate for the National Plan on Drugs (PNSD), Azucena Martí, and the EU representative of the General Directorate for International Cooperation and Development (DG-DEVCO), Ramón Espinosa. All three have highlighted the outstanding progress of the programme and the achievements made over this period, which is why the European Union has convened a third phase of the programme that will begin in 2021.

GOALS ACHIEVED

Teresa Salvador-Livinia, director of the programme, made a presentation of the results obtained with respect to the initial objectives. In addition, she stated the activities and products that have allowed achieving such objectives in all areas of action of the programme: National Drug Observatories, reduction of drug demand and supply, and support for the work of the drug coordination and cooperation mechanism between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union (CELAC-EU).

COPOLAD has been a success in achieving the exchange of information, experiences and intelligence, good practices and lessons learned, with the aim of strengthening increasingly effective policies, based at all times on scientific evidence and guaranteed sustainability.

Caribbean countries have expressed their sincere gratitude towards the project team: Without you the programme would not have been a success, emphasising across the board that the collaboration of all other international organisations has increased the level of synergies. Furthermore, they have appreciated and valued the platform provided by the programme, so that Caribbean countries work more closely with each other, especially in the areas of reducing drug demand.

For their part, Latin American countries have expressed the way that COPOLAD has made significant contributions to the knowledge, social resources, and human capital of their countries, improving their Drug Observatories through the production of annual reports and the validation of programmes for the reduction of drug demand with the introduction of quality criteria.

All of them have recognised the important work of COPOLAD in paving the way and providing and equipping countries with the tools to move in the right direction.