Strengthening cooperation in security and prison matters is one of the main issues that will be addressed according to the agenda.
Colombian President Iván Duque arrived in Quito this Sunday for a visit of around eight hours in which he will meet with his Ecuadorian colleague, Guillermo Lasso, with whom will address security issues and others of bilateral interest.
“The leaders will hold a high-level meeting at the Carondelet Palace, in which they will address issues of interest on the bilateral agenda, such as the exchange of experiences and the delineation of security strategies”Reported the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry on social media, minutes after Duque landed.
The Colombian president was received at the Mariscal Sucre airport by the Foreign Minister, Mauricio Montalvo, and after a brief greeting in the protocol room of the airport, his delegation left for Quito, some 25 kilometers away.
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The meeting between the two leaders, announced on Friday, takes place at moments of a security crisis in Ecuador marked by a increase in homicides both in the streets of some provinces of the country as in the prisons, in which this year there have been several massacres of prisoners.
According to the Ecuadorian Government, this increase is due to the growing influence of rival gangs linked to international drug trafficking, in which Ecuador has become an exit platform for drugs.
Drug trafficking, murders, femicides, robberies, crimes on the rise that affect Ecuador and that the new Government must combat
“Strengthening cooperation in security and prison matterss ”is precisely one of the items on the agenda that the two presidents will address, according to a statement released by Duque’s office before leaving Bogotá.
Also “the reopening of the Colombian-Ecuadorian border“, Closed to the transit of people since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, as well as giving a” boost to freight transport and road infrastructure “,”the commercial exchange between the two nations”And“ the development of the initiative signed at COP26 in Glasgow ”, to expand marine protected areas.
The reopening of the common border, of more than 586 kilometers kilometers, is “fundamental” for the border populations and economic reactivationadds the statement.
In this sense, they will analyze “coordinated actions in the area of security in the border area that allow the joint fight against transnational crimes.”
According to the official agenda, Duque and Lasso will maintain a meeting in private and another extended one with some of his ministers, in which they will also prepare the X Binational Cabinet.
In the enlarged, both delegations will discuss the prprocess of land transfer of cargo from one side of the border to the other in the Rumichaca pass, in order to initiate a pilot plan to accelerate commitments on economic and commercial issues.
Duque arrived accompanied by the chief of staff of the Presidency, María Paula Correa; Vice Chancellor Francisco Echeverri; and the Defense Ministers, Diego Molano; Transportation, Angela María Orozco; Justice, Wilson Ruiz; and Environment, Carlos Eduardo Correa.
Also by the director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC) and senior officials of the Colombian Public Force.
In the wake of the crisis in their prisons, Ecuador seeks international cooperation to restructure its prison system, an objective for which it is advising several countries, including Colombia, the United States, Spain or Israel. (I)
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