Through thematic and geographic discussions, the Strategic Dialogue on LAC offered the EU and UNODC a platform to highlight common priorities and challenges, identify opportunities to further align efforts and establish synergies and agree on follow-up actions to cooperate more strategically in the region. They exchanged on programmatic alignment, including the newly launched Team Europe Initiative on Justice and Security in the region, priorities in the Andean Region and the Southern Cone, border management, and EU drugs and crime-related initiatives. The participants also discussed ongoing and potential EU-UNODC cooperation in the Caribbean, alternative development, gender-based violence, as well as trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling.
Claudia Gintersdorfer, EEAS Head of Division for Regional Affairs, underlined the importance of collaboration in Latin America and the Caribbean, especially given the volume of interesting exchanges during this Dialogue, indicating that further cooperation in the field is needed. Candice Welsch, UNODC Deputy Director for Operations, recalled the consistent nature of the role and lengthy presence of UNODC in the region, and highlighted the shared interests with the EU from global programmes to bilateral work.