CELAC-EU bi-regional meeting on the exchange of good practices

A meeting between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union took place in Madrid with the aim being to exchange information, good practices and lessons learned in the fight against illegal drug trafficking and related crimes such as money laundering.

The session, organised by the COPOLAD Programme , funded by the European Union (EU) and chaired by FIIAPP, was attended by the Center for Intelligence against Terrorism and Organized Crime attached to Spain’s Interior Ministry (CITCO) and the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs of the Ministry for Health, Consumption and Social Welfare (DGPNSD).

Another purpose of the meeting was to move the cooperation between agents from Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union working on asset investigation and asset recovery such as financial intelligence units, specialised public prosecutors and asset recovery offices (AROs) forward. It also aims to improve coordination with other institutions in the sector such as the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD/OAS), Europol and the European Commission, among others.

Present at the inaugural session were Ana María Botella, Minister for Home Affairs, Ángel Alonso, Director of the Intelligence Centre for Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO) of the Ministry of the Interior; Anna Terrón, Director of FIIAPP; Azucena Martí, Delegate of the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs (DGPNSD), of the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Welfare; Juan González, European Commission Representative in Spain and Teresa Salvador-Llivina, Director of the COPOLAD Programme.