MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Interpol: Argentina's Roncaglia enters exec committee - Chile picked for 2019 meeting

“I will devote myself to meeting the objectives,” said Roncaglia.

Chile has been chosen to host the 2019 International Police Organisation (Interpol) general assembly, while Argentine Federal Police Chief Néstor Roncaglia was among the six new members elected for three-year terms into the body's 13-member executive committee, it was announced in Dubai on Wednesday.

Roncaglia and Canada's Gilles Michaud were picked for the Americas; Major-General Dr Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi, Inspector-General of the UAE Ministry of Interior and Japan's Noboru Nakatani of Japan are the new delegates for Asia; Jannine van den Berg of the Netherlands as delegate for Europe and Destino Pedro of Angola for Africa complete the list of the new appointees.

“Thank you for your support, I will devote myself to meeting the objectives, let's talk but let's also do, we must all be men of action,” said Roncaglia.

Chilean National Police Director Héctor Espinosa-Valenzuela received the Interpol flag from Dubai's Police Commander-in-Chief Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri at the closing ceremony of this year's 4-day assembly, marking where the next edition will take place.

Espinosa thanked Interpol for trusting his country with the opportunity to be the next session's venue.

This year's meeting climax at Madinat Jumeirah was on Wednesday when South Korea's Kim Jong Yang was elected full president of the body. Kim had been acting as Interpol president since Meng Hongwei vanished in September while in his native China and was later said to have been arrested on bribery charges.

“I thank all the delegations that contributed to the success of the 87th session, which established the pillars of cooperation among all members,” Kim said, as he thanked the UAE for their hospitality.

Wrapping up the event and thanking the participants, Major-General Al Marri said: “We are honoured in the UAE to host this event in the Year of Zayed and close to the celebration of the National Day. We hope that the conference can achieve all its aspirations.”

The final day of the assembly was also attended by Jürgen Stock, secretary-general of Interpol, along with the rest of the 1,300 delegates, including 40 ministers and 85 police chiefs from all over the world.

Vanuatu and Kiribati also officially received their Interpol flags as new members of the body.