On July 05, the Second Steering Committee meeting brought together delegates from national beneficiary agencies of Central Asian countries, European Union Delegations, implementing partner FIIAPP and international experts in drug demand reduction.
The objectives of the meeting were to share good practices, identify priority issues, discuss the
working plan, identify opportunities for knowledge and experience sharing in the area of drug
reduction. The discussion allowed participants from all five Central Asian countries to identify
additional needs and make further recommendations, which shall be taken into account in the work
plan for the next year.
«CADAP programme is a long-standing partner of Turkmenistan. The Government of Turkmenistan,
in particular the relevant ministries and departments of Turkmenistan, within the framework of the
previous and current 7 phase of this Programme, are actively involved in the implementation of all
its components”, said Yazguly Agabayev, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan, in
his welcoming speech. – “The plan of the current 7th phase of CADAP Programme includes such
activities as technical assistance in the development of a roadmap to strengthen the key positions of
national policy, monitoring, prevention and treatment, assistance in the development and testing of
curricula on drug prevention, compiling a roadmap to improve data collection, preparing national
reports on drugs, assisting in the introduction of new curricula on rehabilitation and reintegration in
universities, and others that are of interest to the countries of the region and are certainly relevant for
us at this time”, – he noted.
Cosimo Lamberti, European Union Representative mentioned the great regional impact of CADAP
Programme. “One of the greater positive aspects is that in CADAP case we have possibility to tackle
several problems not at national but at a regional one or transnational one” – he said.
“Maintaining frequent contact between countries of the region and carrying out activities at regional
level requires appropriate coordination mechanisms. In Central Asia, regional cooperation is made
easier through the Regional Steering Committee whose members are representatives of national
beneficiaries’ agencies of CADAP 7. Annual Steering Committees have been convened in different
countries of the region to report, evaluate and review various activities carried out within the
framework of CADAP, as well as to design new ones. In 2023, Turkmen Government has strongly
supported this initiative by providing an excellent platform for establishing a forum for the
presentation of achievements, evaluation of results, and feedback”, says Ernest Robello, CADAP 7
Director.
The meeting involved a presentation of the programme’s objectives, expected results and the actions
planned for the next year, followed by a constructive discussion with the primary beneficiaries from
Central Asian countries. Good practices were shared, priority issues identified, together with
opportunities for knowledge and experience sharing in the area of drug reduction.
