Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also mentioned a plan to ‘create in 2026 a regional academy to combat organized crime, based in the Dominican Republic’
It will reinforce its embassies in Latin America with specialized personnel and means of intervention against drug trafficking, said this Saturday (8) Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, in an interview with the weekly Journal du dimanche. The embassies’ cooperation with drug-producing countries “generates results”, said the chancellor. “But it is insufficient. Therefore, we are going to increase the number of specialized agents in embassies by 20% and triple their means of intervention”, added Barrot, without specifying a timetable. The minister also mentioned a plan to “create in 2026 a regional academy to combat organized crime, based in the Dominican Republic, which will train 250 investigators, magistrates, customs agents and financial analysts from the security and justice forces of allied countries every year.”
The French chancellor is in Colombia to participate in the fourth summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac). Previously, he was in Mexico during the president’s state visit, when a customs cooperation agreement against drug trafficking was signed.
With France exposed to an increase in cocaine trafficking and consumption, Barrot stated in the interview that he was putting his ministry “in battle order so that it fully assumes its role in the fight against drugs”.
*With information from AFP
