Governments of Ecuador and Colombia will allocate funds for the border

Ecuadornews:

The Ministers of the Interior of Ecuador and Defense of Colombia signed an agreement of understanding for cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking,terrorism and organized crime along the border.

The border populations of Ecuador and Colombia will have the economic support of abinational fund, which will be used for projects and development plans of those regions. This measure was one of the 43 points of the agreement, based on 7axes, which were approved on Tuesday, December 4 during the seventh meeting of cabinets of Colombia and Ecuador, chaired by the leaders of both nations.

The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, arrived in the country after 11:00 along with 32 members of his ministerial cabinet for the working day with the president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, and his team made up of 34 officials among government ministers and advisers. After almost two hours of meeting, which began around 12:00 at the Government Palace, the heads of state confirmed the conclusions reached with the signing of the Quito Agreement.

Duque mentioned that they previously identified 7 priority axes related to security and defense; infrastructure and connectivity; Border, environmental issues;social and cultural; economic and commercial, which addressed 43 points for attention to the border areas. “It is a great evolution of there lationship that will directly and quickly address the needs of citizens on both sides of the border,” said the Colombian President.

He stressed that cooperation in security matters was confirmed by reaffirming the struggle of both countries against drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime. “The cooperation between our public forces will allow more and more forceful blows against these forms of criminality,” he said.

He also expressed his solidarity with the families of the Ecuadorian journalists murdered in Colombia by members of the Óliver Sinisterra front, led by alias”Guacho”. He assured that the crime will not remain in impunity and that for this they are working in coordination with the objective of finding the murderers.

 President Moreno, meanwhile, stressed the importance of the event that is accentuatingand strengthening peace, cooperation and the valuable exchange of opinions,”which result in improving public policies for the benefit of our peoples.”

He stressed the importance of security for a frontal fight against organized crime, but “without losing sight of the fact that the main objective is the fight against poverty, so that the dignity of the people, in all areas,grows.” (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/3/leninmoreno-ivanduque-gabinetebinacional