From left to right: Clah Kouakou Guy Richmond Traoré (UNODC – National Coordinator, Trafficking in persons & Smuggling of migrants project – TIPSOM-), Corinne Essoh (US Embassy - Administrative Assistant, Economic and political section), Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés (UNODC - ROSEN Regional Representative), H.E. Ms. Jessica Davis Ba (US Ambassador), Cheikh Touré (UNODC – Senior Law Enforcement Advisor, Head of Programme Office in Côte d’Ivoire), Ruth Kouankam Schlick (UNODC - Programme Coordinator, CRIMJUST), Andrea Susana Martínez Donnally (US Embassy- Chief, Economic and Political section), Abbas Daher Djama (UNODC - Regional Coordinator, Global Maritime Crime Programme), Eba Barthelemy Ekra (UNODC - National Coordinator, Programme Against Money Laundring, Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism – GPML).
Capitalising on Côte d'Ivoire’s strategic geographical position, UNODC’s Regional Office for West and Central Africa (ROSEN) has decided, since 2021, to strengthen its presence in the country with the opening of a new Programme Office (POCIV) focusing on law enforcement, border management and emerging crimes.The establishment of this Programme Office in Côte d’Ivoire (POCIV) was an opportunity to develop UNODC's expertise and programmatic offer (AIRCOP, CRIMJUST, PROMIS, OCWAR-T, Global Maritime Crime Programme, Global Programme against Money Laundering, Project on Drug Demand Reduction…) in the country and the sub-region, under the coordination of the Head of Office, Mr. Cheikh O Touré, appointed since May 2022.In this context, the regional representative of UNODC ROSEN, Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés, was on mission in Abidjan from March 27th to 30th to support Côte d'Ivoire's commitment not to let drug and crime compromise its development.He took this opportunity to present the new UNODC “Regional Hub against Transnational Organized Crime” to the highest national authorities and to initiate active discussions on the 4 pillars of intervention of this flagship project:
1 - Normative work: Strengthening normative, legislative and strategic framework against transnational organized crime, in line with the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
2 -Repository of best practices and sharing of knowledge: Increasing inter-agency operational cooperation at the national and inter-regional level and the sharing of criminal intelligence and information.
3 -Capacity building: at institutional and operation level: Increasing institutional and professional capacities to detect and disrupt armed groups' and criminal network's operations involved in illegal activities and illicit trafficking.
4 -Innovation and partnership: Increasing strategic partnership for an innovative approach to fight against illicit trafficking and transnational organized crime.
The Minister of Interior and Security, the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Diaspora, the Head of the National Security Council, and the Minister of Solidarity and Fight against Poverty were all very supportive of this regional initiative.
In addition to the above-mentioned bilateral meetings with national counterparts, Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés also met with three technical and financial partners to build ties and share views on ways to support and collaborate in line with the Ivorian priorities in the fight against crime: H.E. Ms. Jessica Davis BA (U.S. Ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire), Mr. Sascha Weh (representative of the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany) and Mr. Joseph Martial RIBEIRO (Deputy Director General of the African Development Bank).
During this strategic mission, Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés kept emphasising Côte d'Ivoire's leading role in the fight against crime at sub-regional level: "the UNODC Regional Hub will rely on the expertise and outreach of Ivorian experts to increase awareness among neighbouring countries of the importance of South-South cooperation in the fight against transnational organised crime, illicit trafficking and terrorism".
From left to right: Clah Kouakou Guy Richmond Traoré (UNODC – National Coordinator, Trafficking in persons & Smuggling of migrants project – TIPSOM- )Yao Ronsard Odonkor KOUMA (Secretary General of Comité interministériel de lutte contre la drogue, CILAD - French acronym), Dr. Amado Philip de Andrés (UNODC - ROSEN Regional Representative), H.E. Ms. Kandia Camara (Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Diaspora), Cheikh Touré (UNODC – Senior Law Enforcement and Head of Programme Office in Côte d’Ivoire) and Hélène Giraud (UNODC – Law Enforcement Expert).
