(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The U.S. will آ'respectآ' the government of Ecuadorآ's request for the U.S. Embassy Security Cooperation Office to close its doors and end the آ'bilateral partnershipآ' that posted 20 U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) employees in the country.
"While we respect their decision, we regret that the outcome will severely limit our bilateral security partnership. Our close military cooperation over the past four decades has resulted in significant advances against drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism and other transnational crime," said State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki to reporters Friday night.
The letter from the Ecuadorian government was sent on April 7 and notified the group also referred to as the آ'mil groupآ' to leave the country by the end of the month.
Psaki added that the DOD team had been cooperating on items, "which are also in Ecuador's interests have been technical training in the areas of vehicle and aircraft maintenance, safety and logistics, construction of a military peacekeeping center, strengthening Ecuador's defensive capabilities strengthening cooperation on a wide spectrum of security challenges." She indicated that the Ecuadorian government made آ'erroneous reportsآ' that inflated the numbers of DOD employees in Ecuador. She noted there are about 50 military employees and 20 DOD employees. She stressed that the DOD employees in the military group were, "fully accredited with the Ecuadorian government to engage in a range of liaison and cooperation activities with the Ecuadorian military."
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