A network of 14 global ports will be launched to fight against drug trafficking

A network of 14 global ports intended to fight drug trafficking will be officially launched on Monday, November 9, during a meeting in Marseille as part of the G7, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday. The goal is to “track shipments, using tools like artificial intelligence, to be better connected to each other,” declared Jean-Noël Barrot on RTL-Public Sénate.

In total, "70% of the narcotics that enter our country pass through ports. And therefore, there is a port of departure, there is a port of arrival. It is by coordinating the action of the ports that we will succeed in curbing this scourge", he underlined.

The first meeting of this network will be held on Monday in Marseille, where the meeting of G7 foreign ministers was initially scheduled to take place before being repatriated to Paris. Jean-Noël Barrot insisted that drug trafficking had to be addressed "at the roots" by targeting both producing countries and transit countries, and welcomed "good cooperation from countries" particularly in South America.

He estimated that the influx of drugs was declining thanks to cooperation agreements and the exchange of information “which allow us to track down drug traffickers”. The G7 Foreign Affairs meeting (Germany, Canada, United States, France, Italy, Japan and United Kingdom) takes place Monday and Tuesday at the Quai d'Orsay, in Paris.