Bolivar. After 18 years, Colombia is the host country of the Inter-American Naval Conference, the most important event of the Navies of the American continent, which, since 1959, has been carried out every two years.
The National Navy organizes this meeting in the city of Cartagena de Indias, from July 23 to 27, 2018, to treat the main maritime issues of common interest and strengthen the ties of cooperation and dialogue of 18 Navies of the hemisphere: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and three international observer organizations : the Inter-American Board of Defense, the Inter-American Telecommunication Network and the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas.
The central issue of this Conference is the "Responsibility of the navies of the Region against drug trafficking", representatives of the Navies of the Americas will the present the challenges of today and the future to fight against this problem.
This meeting, whose fundamental purpose is to foster the establishment of permanent professional links of the Navies in order to promote hemispheric solidarity, becomes the best place to exchange ideas and knowledge on maritime aspects. It strengthens policies and seals new alliances that led the region to interoperability of the Navies and thus guarantee the security and contribute to the maritime, coastal and fluvial spaces of their countries, generating new strategies against the common threats.
Admiral Ernesto Durán González, Commander of the National Navy, considers that the issue of the fight against narcotics is a priority because "we do not want a country to deal with drug trafficking as Colombia has done it, it won’t happen to other country, without exception". The lessons learned from years of effort combating this situation and the bonds of international cooperation to enhance the capacities of the different Navies, have led our country to be perceived positively on an international level, because "today we are in a different Colombia ".
The National Navy seeks to contribute to the establishment of a better and greater regional security environment, putting its experience and knowledge at the service of the countries of the region, given the excellent results obtained in interdiction operations, in the fight against transnational threats, such as drug trafficking and terrorism, in order to ensure the maritime areas of the Americas to make them safe and stable, for not only the good of the continent, but also the world.
The Secretariat and the organization of the XXVIII Inter-American Naval Conference was given to the National Navy in 2016, from the hands of the Royal Canadian Navy, in a ceremony carried out aboard the ship "Fredericton" in the city of Cartagena de Indias and once completed, in 2020, the Navy of Chile will assume the Secretariat of the organization.
Source: Caribbean Naval Force - National Navy.
