On 14th October 2024, The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Air, Space and Cyberspace Intelligence Headquarters of the Colombian Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Colombiana - FAC) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to strengthen their partnership within the context of the COLIBRI Project on monitoring and controlling General Aviation (GA). COLIBRI is an initiative led by the WCO and funded by the European Union (EU), as part of the EU’s Global Illicit Flows Programme (GIFP).

The MoC was signed by the WCO Head of Administration and Personnel - Hans Pieters, on behalf of the WCO Secretary General - Ian Saunders, and by the Head of Air, Space and Cyberspace Intelligence of the FAC - Brigadier General Juan Francisco Mosquera Dueñas.

The MoC aims to formalize collaboration between the COLIBRI Project and the FAC. It sets out the scope, objectives and means of cooperation between the parties, outlining the importance of information sharing and of interagency and international cooperation, with a view to effectively disrupting organized crime group (OCG) activities and monitoring the use of GA.

Colombia is one of the world’s leading cocaine producers, and GA’s versatility and discretion offer ideal features that are exploited by OCGs to perpetrate their illicit activities. Within this context, GA represents a major threat to national, regional and global security.

The Air, Space and Cyberspace Intelligence Headquarters of the FAC issues and analyses important real-time information. It is highly experienced in aerospace platform operations, monitoring the national territory. This extensive experience makes FAC a key partner for COLIBRI, given its ability to make the most of the Geoportal functionalities and potentialities, and to use geodata to control and monitor the national territory over time and plan effective controls accordingly.

COLIBRI stands ready to assist its partners by providing capacity building, technical assistance and technological innovations to support effective monitoring and control of GA. Furthermore, the Project strives to raise governments’ awareness of the key role played by GA within the illicit goods supply chain. Among its objectives, the Project will continue advocating for additional resources and specific measures and legislation to strengthen security in this sensitive environment. 

To mark the signature of this MoC with FAC, the COLIBRI Project renewed its commitment towards building partners’ capacities and skills to perform effective controls, analyse trends and routes, and ultimately ensure monitoring of GA use and activities.

COLIBRI is a unique initiative. By providing national administrations with capacity-building resources and a dedicated Geoportal Platform, the Project enables them to address the root causes of the challenges and threats posed by GA.

To learn more about COLIBRI please visit colibri.wcoomd.org