Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva announced Friday after a visit by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to Bogota that a Latin American conference on migration will be held in the first quarter of 2023.
«Minister Alvaro Leyva receives the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, to discuss migration from a regional and multidimensional approach, with emphasis on respect for Human Rights and under the principle of solidarity,» the Colombian Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.
Leyva and Mayorkas have emphasized their talks in the region of the Darien Gap, a jungle area that separates Colombia from Panama, where thousands of migrants, many of them minors, cross on their way to the United States.
The US Secretary of Homeland Security was also received by the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, with whom he discussed «bilateral initiatives aimed at facilitating legal avenues for Colombian migrants in the United States».
«The United States is a strategic partner with Colombia on its migration agenda and shares our approach to addressing irregular migration on the continent. Both countries will continue to work with partners in the region,» the Colombian Foreign Ministry explained in a statement.
