The U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, announced on Wednesday the opening of the first FBI office in the country.

Ecuadorian officials will work alongside the office in a move that strengthens diplomatic relations between the United States and the South American country, while reinforcing President Donald Trump’s push to fight drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere.

“Today we celebrate another strategic and operational milestone in security,” the U.S. Embassy in Quito said in a post on X.

Ecuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg spoke to reporters about the opening of the FBI office, saying collaboration will start immediately.

“What has changed is that we ​have FBI agents permanently ​in Ecuador working with a national police unit that ⁠has been set up so that they can work together,” he said.

The office will focus on a number of tasks with local officials, as Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has cracked down on organized crime during his administration.

Joint operations targeting drug trafficking have already taken place between Noboa’s government and U.S. officials.

“With the creation of the FBI’s trusted unit, we enhance our joint capacity to identify, dismantle, and bring to justice those who traffic drugs, launder money, smuggle weapons, and finance terrorism,” the U.S. Embassy in Quito wrote on X.

On March 2, Noboa vowed he was launching a “new phase” of action against narcoterrorism.

Ecuadorian forces and the U.S. Department of War conducted lethal kinetic operations on March 6, targeting a narcoterrorist supply complex. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said “narcoterrorist networks will find no refuge in our hemisphere.”

“Together, we will dismantle narcoterrorist and corruption networks, hold these organizations accountable, and restore peace through strength.”

A day after the successful strikes, Trump attended the Shield of the Americas Summit, a 17-nation military alliance, in Miami.

The leaders of a dozen Latin American and Caribbean nations were present, including Argentina, El Salvador, Paraguay, Ecuador, Panama, Honduras, Guyana, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Costa Rica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The U.S. president announced a new military alliance aimed at targeting cartels in the hemisphere, called Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.

“For far too long, the mafias believed that America was their territory. That they could cross borders, move drugs, weapons, and violence without consequences,” the Ecuadorian president said in a post on X on the day of the summit.

“That time is over for them.”

Reuters contributed to this report.