Lima, December 20 (EFE). – The deputy foreign and interior ministers of Peru and Chile met this Wednesday in Lima to hold a bilateral security meeting in which both countries agreed on a framework for cooperation in the fight against smuggling. including human trafficking and irregular migration.
“Today the first security meeting between the Peruvian-Chilean deputy foreign and interior ministers took place. This meeting allowed us to strengthen dialogue and coordination to combat cross-border challenges and crimes,” said the Peruvian Foreign Ministry in the statement Network X (formerly Twitter).
The ministry added that at this meeting a framework for cooperation was agreed in six areas: combating smuggling, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, irregular migration, drug trafficking, organized crime and drug trafficking. Weapons.
For its part, the Chilean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the meeting was attended by the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Gloria de la Fuente, and the Undersecretary of Interior, Manuel Monsalve, as well as, on behalf of Peru, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Higueras. , and Peruvian Deputy Minister of Internal Order Miguel Núñez.
“In our case, as neighboring countries, we have a common border that does not divide us but unites us and pushes us to cooperate in several areas, such as foreign and domestic policy, two key areas of our relationship,” De la Fuente said.
He stressed that, in his opinion, this is a “very important meeting because it concerns issues of transcendent importance for the citizens of both countries, such as security and organized crime, where the scourge goes beyond borders .”
Both authorities emphasized the progress of the bilateral working group to combat smuggling and “the relevance of jointly addressing the ways and procedures used to commit this type of crime.”
With regard to human trafficking, the parties “expressed their interest in promoting plans for the assisted return of compatriots in order to facilitate their return to the country of origin or, if this is not possible, to a third country.”
In the context of irregular migration, they decided to establish a cooperation table and a protocol on humanitarian returns on the border with Peru. EFE
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