Ukraine has plans to join CoE’s drug policy cooperation platform

Ukraine has plans to join the Council of Europe’s (CoE) drug policy cooperation platform, the Pompidou Group, by January 2022. 

Borys Tarasyuk, the permanent representative of Ukraine to CoE, has stated during his recent  meeting with Denis Huber, executive secretary of the Pompidou Group, that the participation of Ukrainian experts in the work of the group will facilitate the creation and implementation of programmes for treatment of addictions, the care and rehabilitation of people with substance use disorders, as well as the exchange of information on trends related to drug trafficking and drug use.

Last month, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyi approved a bill by the country’s parliament on ‘Ukraine’s Accession to the Partial Agreement on the Establishment of a Cooperation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (Pompidou Group).’ 

The decision followed 10 years of cooperation between Ukraine and the Pompidou Group. 

Mariya Mezentseva, Ukrainian MP and chairperson of the country’s delegation to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly has stated that the platform of the Pompidou Group ‘is essential to sharing good practices among member states to address drug issues in our country and across Europe.’