ACP Group and Interpol strengthen cooperation
Brussels, 19 July 2019/ACP:The special representative of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to the European Union, Mr. Pierre St. Hilaire, visited the ACP Secretary General H.E. Dr. Patrick Gomes and the ACP Committee of Ambassadors on Thursday 18 July 2019 at ACP House, Brussels, to strengthen the cooperation between the two organizations.
Mr. St. Hilaire briefed the ACP representatives on the vision and objectives of his organization. He stressed the need for Interpol to reinforce cooperation with the ACP Group as it is the largest transcontinental grouping of developing countries consisting of 79 Member Countries.
He presented examples of Interpol actions in ACP countries; mainly in the area of capacity building such as in the training of local security services in forensics and body identification, notably during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the recent crash of the Ethiopian Airlines near Addis Ababa.
Explaining that the main role of Interpol is to connect police forces around the world to solve international crimes, he also addressed the popular portrayal and misperceptions of Interpol drawing attention to the fact that Interpol does not interfere with the sovereignty of its 194 member countries.
ACP Ambassadors exchanged views with Mr. St. Hilaire on several security issues threatening ACP countries and commended the initiative as the theme of Security is high on the agenda of the ongoing negotiations for a new partnership between the ACP and the European Union.