Latin America and the Caribbean share progress in Brussels developed within COPOLAD on the control of chemical precursors

Brussels, 25 September 2019. On 25, 26 and 27 September, the 3rd meeting of the working groups in the field of precursors of the Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies (COPOLAD), a programme financed by the European Union and managed by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), will take place in the Belgian capital.

For three years, two working groups have been working hard with the aim of, on the side of Latin American countries, supporting the improvement and development of efficient legislation on precursor control, and on the side of countries working in this area in the Caribbean region, the adaptation of support materials. Chemical precursors are the key to facing and anticipating the appearance of new psychoactive substances and require a global and regional strategy in the diversion of these substances.

Throughout these three days, the final exchanges will be held and the work of the two groups will be pooled for the approval of the document prepared by them under the title of Best Practices and Lessons Learned for the Control of the Illicit Traffic of Chemical Precursors, a document that, once adopted, will be disseminated among all the countries of the region. 

On the occasion of the meeting in Brussels, the participants will make visits to the headquarters of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Parliament, actions promoted by COPOLAD with the aim of promoting knowledge and CELAC-EU relations, and a better understanding of the work of the European Union through COPOLAD and other programmes and actions, in the field of precursors.

The member countries of these working groups are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela. 

Along with them, representatives of the CELAC Embassies in Brussels are present in a new demonstration of the importance given by COPOLAD to the inter-institutional dialogue between the entities and national bodies working in Latin America and the Caribbean on drugs policies and their correspondents in Brussels who are members of the Technical meetings of the EU-CELAC Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on drugs, so that the countries can propose coordinated actions at national and bi-regional level on precursors, among other areas of drugs policy.