Indonesiantalk.com — Head of BNN RI Meets with ART Columbia, Shares Experience in Handling Illegal Plantations
During a working visit to Colombia, the Head of the National Narcotics Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BNN RI), Commissioner General Prof. Dr. Petrus Reinhard Golose, held a bilateral meeting with Raul Delgado Guerrero, Director of the Agency for Territorial Renewal (ART), and his team on Monday, September 25th.
ART is a Colombian government agency with a primary mission to support the Colombian government’s program of substituting illegal crops and promoting alternative development for coca farmers and other illicit crop growers.
This aligns with one of BNN RI’s four strategies in the war on drugs, known as the Soft Power Approach, which is implemented through alternative empowerment programs as an effort to empower communities in drug-prone areas.
According to ART’s data, Colombia currently has 234,000 hectares of coca fields and 11,000 hectares of marijuana plantations. ART is currently pushing for the completion of the National Program of Substitution of Illicit Crops (PNIS), which has assisted more than 1,000 farming families in transitioning from illegal to legal crops.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Indonesia and Colombia agreed to explore the establishment of a Letter of Intent (LOI) or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as a basis for further cooperation, particularly in the exchange of data and information to enhance the effectiveness of alternative empowerment programs in each country.
