On his second day in Santa Marta, Peru's Foreign Affairs Minister Hugo de Zela underscored that the fight against transnational organized crime must be a central pillar of cooperation involving Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe, given the importance both regions attach to this shared challenge.
Therefore, the Peruvian government official issued a serious call to work in a coordinated manner against this scourge, in an operational and effective way across various areas.
"Only through strong biregional cooperation will we be able to anticipate criminal networks," the diplomat stated.
Minister de Zela met with senior European Union officials, who expressed their full willingness for the agreement that the bloc is negotiating with Peru on cooperation to prevent, as well as combat organized crime and terrorism, to be approved soon.
During this trip, the European Union and several European countries expressed their support for Peru’s initiative of the South American Ports Alliance (ASP), which seeks to optimize control and information exchange mechanisms, as well as prevent the use of the region's ports by organized crime.
This spirit of coordination and cooperation was also reflected in the meetings that Minister de Zela held with his counterparts from Belize and Jamaica, as well as with the Parliamentary Secretary of Trinidad and Tobago, to establish coordination and cooperation channels in the fight against organized crime.
In the bilateral sessions that the Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister held with his counterparts from Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, and Sweden, opportunities for cooperation with Peru were addressed.
These covered key areas such as maritime surveillance, cybersecurity, exchange of experiences, modernization of armed forces, and police cooperation.
Likewise, senior European officials conveyed their interest in making an early visit to Peru and advancing the shared programmatic agenda with our country.
They included the European Commission Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas. The latter, in her desire to revitalize relations with the region, expressed her interest in holding the next High-Level Political Dialogue in Lima.
Ahead of our upcoming elections, the European Union and the OAS confirmed to Minister de Zela that they are advancing the process to send electoral observation missions to Peru so as to verify the conduct of democratic and transparent elections.
Within this framework, in the coming months, OAS Secretary General Albert Ramdin, with whom the Foreign Affairs Minister held a very positive meeting, will visit our country to address this issue, as well as other matters of common interest.
At the meetings held with regional counterparts, continued interest was shown in the Peruvian proposal to evaluate alternatives to prevent the misrepresentation of the essence of the 1954 Caracas Convention, with the aim of ensuring it is applied solely to political cases.