Washington, April 10, 2010, SPA -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will travel next week to South America for visits to Colombia and Peru, the Pentagon said. Gates also will meet with his counterparts in the Caribbean at a regional summit to discuss security and combating the illegal drug trade, a senior official said. The U.S. defense chief “wants to be clear sending a message that we remain very much engaged in this region,” the official told AFP, noting “perceptions that we’re somehow not interested or neglecting” the relationship. In Bogota, Gates will meet outgoing President Alvaro Uribe, the official said. Gates will congratulate Uribe, who took office in 2002, for “the accomplishments of the last 10 years” in increasing security Colombia, and he will offer U.S. support for the next president when Uribe leaves office in August, the official said. The U.S. embassy in Bogota said the visit will take place April 14 and 15. In Peru, Gates will meet with President Alan Garcia and Defense Minister Rafael Rey to see “in which ways we can cooperate better” on security issues, the official said. In Barbados, Gates’ main goal is to support President Barack Obama’s Caribbean security initiative to fight narcotics trafficking, the official said. Gates initially was scheduled to visit Brazil to sign a framework military cooperation agreement, but instead he will sign the accord with Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim on Monday at the Pentagon, on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Washington that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is scheduled to attend. --SPA 11:20 LOCAL TIME 08:20 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/767894