On December 13 in Brussels, Belgium, the EU-Central Asia Drug Dialogue has been conducted under the chairmanship of Spain – regular annual dialogue aiming to strengthen international cooperation, exchange views and support the proper development of drug policies. CADAP supported
the participation in the Dialogue of delegations from all 5 Central Asian countries among the representatives of relevant state institutions, whose activities include countering drug smuggling and developing state policy in the field of drugs.
The European Union provided an update on drugs policy and drugs situation in the EU, including on the
evaluation of the implementation of the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2025. It was followed by an update on drugs policy and drugs situation in Central Asia countries, with recent developments and trends.
The general overview of the collaboration between the EU and Central Asia in the field of drugs was given as well as the presentation of CADAP and other regional EU funded programmes. Finally, emerging challenges focusing on the drug situation in Afghanistan: methamphetamine and heroin production, and trafficking and other recent developments and trends were discussed.
EU side was represented by EU Member States and representatives of the EU institutions and agencies such as the European Commission, the European Monitoring Centre of Drugs and Addictions, EUROPOL, the European External Action Service and General Secretariat of the Council of Europe. Particularly, the European Commission presented the EU Drugs Strategy 2021-2025 and its Action Plan 2021-2025 and EU agencies shared the information on recent development in the EU.
Expert dialogues on drugs are the fundamental part of the EU Drugs Strategy 2021-2025 that strongly supports information sharing on the strategies, aims and relevant initiatives through the dialogues on drugs with international partners, both at regional and bilateral level. Dialogues are typically based on multilateral partnership and cooperation with representatives of various regions or EU long-term partners. The goal is to address the experts from the countries outside of the EU and exchange views concerning the drug situation, both at regional and international level.
