New York. With a meeting with Bintou Keiata, UN Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Anibal Fernandez de Soto, Deputy Minister of Defense for Policies and International Affairs, began his round of meetings with senior officials of this multilateral organization based in New York (United States) with whom he spoke about the participation of Colombia in peace missions.
These meetings that will be conducted by April 9 and 13 have the purpose of formalizing the signing of a Framework Agreement that leads the deployment and effective participation of personnel of the Colombian Public Force in Peacekeeping Operations, led by the United Nations. There the guarantees are established for the members as well as the autonomy of the national Government to identify, establish and execute the types of contribution in the frame of the Agreement.
For the consolidation of this Agreement, on Tuesday Vice Minister Fernandez de Soto will hold meetings with Atul Khare, Assistant Secretary General of the Department of Support for Field Activities, Lieutenant General Carlos Humberto Loitey, United Nations Military Advisor for Maintenance Operations of Peace, Ion Jinga, Permanent Representative of Romania in the UN and Óscar Fernández-Taranco, Sub-Secretary General of Support for the Consolidation of Peace, with whom he will deal with in matters related to training, participation modalities, procedures and permits that the recipient countries of the Missions demand, in addition to support and logistics of peace missions.
That is why the Colombian Government work to provide the United Nations, and its peacekeeping system, the Joint Task Force Colombia 1 (FUTCO1) of the year 2019 that will have a total of 900 men and women, selected in this way :
· Fifty-four (54) members of this staff will be contingent personnel.
· An Air Company made of 40 people.
· A Special Forces Unit consisting of one hundred and forty-five (145), specialized men and women.
· Two infantry companies consisting of 107 people each for a total of 214 infantry personnel.
· Services and combat support company that will consist of one hundred and seven (107) men and women.
· A formed Police Unit (FPU) of 140 men and women of the National Police.
Currently, Colombia is moving towards fulfilling the commitment to deploy 12 military observers on the ground to acquire the necessary experience and knowledge that will led them to carry out a feedback process and adjust internal procedures before further deployment.
To date, the Public Force has deployed seven Colombian officers who have worked and received training from countries such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, among others.
Source: Ministry of National Defense.
