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In a noontime press conference, Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez announced that the two countries would hold high-level talks later this year to share information on security issues. Updating the Extradition Treaty, he said, would be critical to “rely on more expedient tools to fight drug trafficking and terrorism.”
“Drug trafficking does not stop at borders,” Bermúdez said. “Terrorism does not stop at borders.”
Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said updating the law is necessary “to adapt to current reality.”
“Colombia has already made us a proposal that is under consideration,” Stagno said, “and later we will have to present a counterproposal on our part.”
Stagno said that, as part of the update, Costa Rica would look into the possibility that Colombian prisoners in Costa Rican jails serve out part of their sentence in Colombia.
The high-level talks will take part in the second half of 2009, and will focus on sharing information on security coordination, Stagno said. Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio will also visit Colombia in the coming weeks to talk about drug trafficking and organized crime.
The ministers also agreed to create a technical commission on immigration matters, which will meet for the first time in May.
