The closing speaker of the opening session was Queen Silvia of Sweden.

The Queen spent most of her time commending the involvement of NGOs in the development of international drug policy, and specifically the Beyond 2008 process. The Queen suggested that the finalised Political Declaration on drugs being presented to the High Level Meeting contains much common ground with the Beyond 2008 Declaration.

While the Queen’s support for civil society is ceratinly welcome, her conclusions regarding its reflection in the Political Declaration would be disputed by many, especially as the Beyond 2008 provided explicit support for harm reduction.