On July 25th, the XIII Meeting of the Chilean-Bolivian Borders and Integration Committee took place in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
The Chilean Delegation was headed by the National Director of Borders and Frontiers, Ambassador Ximena Fuentes Torrijo. Likewise, the Bolivian Delegation was led by the General Director of Bilateral Relations, Danaya Ríos Requena.
At the meeting, Ambassador Fuentes pointed out that "the fact that the Frontiers Committee had not met in the past 6 years had become a challenge because there were a series of practical issues that had to be dealt with on a daily basis". This Committee – added Ambassador Fuentes – "was not suspended because of Chile's lack of effort at the time. In fact, in 2012, when the committee was supposed to meet, Chile sent two notes, both inviting Bolivia, but in that moment Bolivia decided to present its maritime pursue to The Hague; at that point they insisted on the materialization of the politic consultation mechanisms, conditioning the execution of the Borders Committee to the political aspect".
"After six years, I believe the positive aspect is the unblocking of the borders cooperation issues; we can agree upon technical matters and practices of mutual interest- And, in fact, the political aspect today is relegated to the International Court of Justice" declared Ambassador Fuentes.
The delegations also agreed on reviving the Technical Integrated Control Committee on the days of the 3rd and 4th of October, 2017, in the new Chungará complex. And, on the 26th and 27th of September, 2017, in Valparaiso, the II Bilateral Technical Meeting will take place between the Bolivian and Chilean Customs, during which they will tackle an extensive agenda which was agreed upon by the Custom Directors, in the World Customs Organization meeting, which took place recently in Brussels.
Furthermore, the Chilean and Bolivian delegations agreed to work on an "efficient and expedite" mechanism to retrieve stolen cars, matter which was prioritized by the Chilean delegation.
During the meeting, Carabineros de Chile gave a presentation on the condition of the vehicle robbery situation in Chile, highlighting the existence of a database online, which allows an easy identification and access to the information.
What is more, the police forces of both countries agreed to have a preparatory meeting on August 10th in La Paz to elaborate a schedule of technical meetings.
Chilean Delegation also announced that the new Chungará Border complex is operational, and it could start functioning as an integrated control during August 2017. It announced as well the coming inauguration of the new Border Complex in the Hito Cajones crossing point in August, 2017.