A Bolivian delegation visits Spain to strengthen cooperation mechanisms between the two countries

Within the framework of the European project to support Bolivian anti-drug forces, an internship was held in Madrid, with the aim of exchanging experiences in order to strengthen international legal cooperation mechanisms, inter-institutional coordination and information management in the police and judicial sphere. The Attorney General of the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Vice-Minister of Social Defence and Contronlled Substances have participated in this internship. In additio, representatives of the General Command of the Bolivian Police, the Special Force to Combat Drug Trafficking and the Ministry of Justice and Institutional Transparency were also invited.  

Among the objectives of this internship were to promote, strengthen and facilitate international cooperation processes between the Attorney General’s Office of the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Attorney General’s Office of Spain through the signing of bilateral agreements, as well as to strengthen international and regional cooperation mechanisms. 

To this end, the project has promoted the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Attorney General’s Office of the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Attorney General’s Office of the Kingdom of Spain. Taking advantage of the participation of the Attorney General of the State of Bolivia in the internship, it was finally signed by both Attorney Generals on 22 June, at the headquarters of the Attorney General’s Office, in the presence of the Prosecutor of the International Cooperation Chamber and the team leader of the FIIAPP project in Bolivia.   

This Memorandum aims to strengthen cooperation relations between the two Prosecutor’s Offices, specifically through the “timely attention of international criminal assistance that may arise between the two States; the promotion of criminal investigation against organised and transnational crime, especially: human trafficking in all its forms of exploitation, illegal trafficking of migrants, trafficking of narcotic and psychotropic substances, money laundering, computer crimes and other types of crimes that represent a serious threat to society; and the exchange of best practices between the Attorney General’s Office of the Kingdom of Spain and the Attorney General’s Office of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, as well as support for training and capacity building programmes for specialised personnel of the Signatory Institutions”.  

In addition, a bilateral meeting was held between the Bolivian Vice-Minister of Social Defence and Controlled Substances and his counterpart, the Spanish Secretary of State for Security, in which the project team leader also participated. During the meeting, they discussed the lines of cooperation open between the two countries, highlighting the commitment to strengthen cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking and organised crime, and to sign an agreement between the two States in this area.