EUROPOL, AMERIPOL and FIIAPP strengthen their relationship

Recently, a EUROPOL delegation visited the AMERIPOL headquarters in Bogotá with the intermediation and organization of the project ‘EL PAcCTO:Support for AMERIPOL’, financed by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP, which represented a historic milestone as it was the first time the Europol Directorate had visited AMERIPOL since its creation in 2007.

During this visit, Commissioner Carla Costardi, representing the Federal Police of Brazil, presented the EUROPOL delegation, headed by its executive director, Catherine De Bolle, with the progress made by AMERIPOL on the road towards its institutionalization through the project ‘EL PAcCTO: Support for AMERIPOL’.

In this process, the way to institutionalize the organisation through an International Treaty is being explored. For this, over the last year a draft Treaty has been drawn up by jurists appointed by Brazil, Argentina and the European Union. This document was presented to the signatory countries of the Buenos Aires Convention against transnational organized crime (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Dominican Republic) and now the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send it to their counterparts in all member countries of AMERIPOL. After a period of six months for the collection of comments, suggestions and amendments, it is expected that the setting of a signature date will be possible during 2020.

In this sense, the EUROPOL model is an important benchmark and its willingness to collaborate and support AMERIPOL is a great added value.

Following the general meeting, the EUROPOL delegation held a private meeting with the representatives of the Presidency and Executive Secretariat of AMERIPOL as well as the project ‘EL PAcCTO: Support to AMERIPOL’, in which it congratulated the organization on its significant progress and where discussion on possible ways to cooperate between AMERIPOL and EUROPOL took place, such as the idea contributed by the project EL PAcCTO: Support for AMERIPOL, on the future creation of an ANFAST network (Ameripol Network Fugitive Active Search Teams), an equivalent to the ENFAST network of EUROPOL, or the deepening of the working relationship through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.