On March 14, 2003 the
Center for the Study of Democracy hosted a round table on
Public-Private Partnerships in Preventing Drug Abuse and
Trafficking. Experts from government agencies and
non-governmental organizations were invited to the discussion. HRH
The Prince of Wales addressed the participants in the round
table.
In his opening remarks Dr. Ognian Shentov, CSD
Chairman, pointed out that CSD's experience had shown that the only
effective way of addressing the issue of contraband and
transnational crime was through broad Public-Private Partnerships
that involve, on an equal footing, all relevant actors in
government, international institutions, business community and
civil society. Dr. Shentov underlined that CSD had done quite a lot
in the area of coalition building over the past years - since 1998
various working groups were set up which included experts from
government institutions, including the security services, alongside
independent researchers and media.
Mr. Boyko Kotsev, Deputy-Minister of Interior,
stressed on the need to replace the notion of control with the need
to develop partnerships and illustrated the theme of partnership in
three ways: cooperation between Bulgaria and the UK, drugs policy
and strategy, and public-private partnerships.
Ms. Zorka Purvanova, spouse of the President of
Bulgaria, pointed out some of the reasons for the increase of drugs
consumption in Bulgaria - poverty, unemployment, lack of social
perspective, erosion of moral values, lower prestige of the
Bulgarian school, problems with the ongoing health reform. She
underlined that the key to the efficient solutions was
"partnership" in the sense of coordination and combined efforts of
all institutions - educational, social, law-enforcement and
judicial.
In his speech, HRH The Prince of Wales commended the
work of Bulgarian Customs and the National Service for Combating
Organized Crime for their dedication and efforts in stopping drugs
flow through Europe and congratulated the Bulgarian Government for
making this a priority area of policy. HRH pointed out that
Bulgaria and the UK had to collaborate even more than now against
international organized crime to reduce the availability of drugs
as well as to combat the growing perception that drug use is
acceptable and risk-free.
During the second session experts from the Working
Group on the Abuse and Trafficking of Drugs at the Center for the
Study of Democracy presented the results of the first national
representative survey on drugs consumption in Bulgaria. Experts
from the Sofia Directorate of Internal Affairs, the National
Service for Combating Organized Crime, Customs Agency, National
Council on Narcotics, Bulgarian Youth Red Cross and Free and
Democratic Bulgaria Foundation took part in the discussion.
Agenda and speeches
First national representative survey on drugs consumption in Bulgaria
Media coverage
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