Pubdate: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 Source: BBC News (UK Web) Copyright: 2001 BBC Feedback: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/ Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ Forum: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/forum/ HUGO BANZER OPENS BOLIVIA DRUG MEETING The Bolivian president, Hugo Banzer, has opened a two-day international conference on the illegal drugs trade in the eastern city of Santa Cruz. Delegations from Europe, the United States and Latin America will share ideas on combatting drug-trafficking. As the conference began, Mr Banzer announced that after an intensive three-and-a-half year offensive, all illegal coca plantations in the Chapare region had been eradicated. The government said only two-thousand hectares of illegal coca plantations remained in Bolivia, down from forty-five-thousand when Mr Banzer took office in 1997. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake