Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister Cayetana Aljovin and U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson agreed on the need to continue to combine efforts in the fight against drug trafficking.
Remarks were made on Monday during a press conference in Lima, Peru.
"We agreed that in the bilateral relationship this is an issue that is important in our agenda. The Secretary of State acknowledged the efforts made by Peru in the fight against drug trafficking, the increased budget that Peru passed to be able to fight this scourge," Aljovin pointed out.
She said both countries are aware that sometimes drug traffickers work with terrorists and, therefore, concerted efforts must be made to fight this scourge.
"We agreed in how important it is for both of us to work together so that this scourge is eradicated and is something that affects negatively our region," she added.
For his part, Tillerson said the Trump administration is aware of the fact the United States is the largest market for Latin American drug production; therefore, it cooperates in the fight against transnational criminal organizations.
"One of the things we've been very clear in the joint dialogue we've had with Mexico, for instance, is the U.S. has to acknowledge that we are the market, and we are the largest consumer of illicit drugs, and so we have to begin to work on that problem. And President Trump has recognized it," Tillerson said.
Tillerson referred to the meeting with Aljovin, saying they did have an exchange, a discussion about their joint efforts on transcriminal organizations.
"This is really a hemisphere-wide challenge. And every country has its own challenges in responding to that," he added.
To Tillerson, it is important to create a network throughout the entire hemisphere of sharing information on these organizations so we can interdict, hold them accountable, and disrupt their activities.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has landed in Lima for a two-day official visit to Peru as part of his first multi-stop trip to Latin America as Secretary of State.
(END) SMA/CVC/RMB
Published: 2/6/2018