The European Union (EU) will contribute over 20 million dollars to the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking in Central America in the short term, according to Vice President of El Salvador, Salvador Sanchez.
After the meeting between representatives of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the EU, hours before the start of the First Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union, the vice president said that today Salvadoran “reaffirmed the willingness to continue cooperating.”
“More than 20 million dollars will be invested in strengthening this process, has been reaffirmed, had made an effort to make a mid-term and now confirmed those resources,” Sanchez explained, noting that the problem of security in Central American countries dominated the SICA-EU meeting.
According to Vice President of El Salvador, was “a very productive meeting, it checks the effort between Central America and Europe, and are 20 years of this process is a process that is taking root strengthened and is facing another problem that is Central, which is security. “
He referred as well to the political compact and EU trade, effective from this month in Nicaragua and Honduras and pending parliamentary ratification in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama, which he said is “a commitment to responsibility shared “.
By this agreement, he said, the EU reaffirmed its commitment to “the effort to improve the situation in the region and has increased its resources to support the overall strategy that has Central to combat organized crime and drug trafficking.”
In addition, the treaty between Central America and the EU, after long negotiations was approved by Parliament in late 2012, “will boost both cooperation and business development.”
That, he concluded, “will improve our economies and address the problems of poverty facing the region.”
The Central American delegations ended their meeting with the EU and are now preparing to participate in the EU-summit CELAC.
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose Costa Rica
