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Trans-Pacific Symposium on Dismantling Transnational Illicit Networks

The Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement will co-host an international symposium on November 10-12 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Participants will include Pacific Rim economies from Asia and the Western Hemisphere, representatives of Pacific Island economies, and other international organizations such as APEC, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Asia Pacific Group on Money-Laundering, Interpol, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The symposium is expected to start an inter-regional dialogue among senior U.S. and foreign law enforcement and judicial officials that will strengthen our combined efforts to combat transnational organized crime organizations and networks that span East Asia, the Pacific, and Latin America. Its focus will be on east-west cross-border crimes, illicit routes, gaps and challenges within existing frameworks, and ways to contain illicit threats before they extend beyond their borders.

The symposium will study new, and reinforce existing, inter-regional law enforcement cooperation techniques to combat transnational criminal activities and illicit networks across the Pacific region. More specifically, the symposium will center on international criminal threats that have become increasingly prominent in the trans-Pacific region.

These include arms, narcotics, and human smuggling/trafficking, money laundering, and corruption. Discussion will cover current and emerging threats, vulnerabilities and challenges, as well as opportunities for cooperation in investigations and intelligence sharing.

For further information please contact:

Susan Pittman
Department of State
202-647-2842
pittmansr@state.gov
Brandon A. Montgomery ICE Office of Public Affairs Department of Homeland Security 202-732-4222

Source: U.S. Department of State