Quito, Ecuador - The FBI is opening an office in Ecuador to investigate organized crime, money laundering, and corruption in conjunction with local police, Interior Minister John Reimberg said Wednesday.

The agreement marks a new chapter in the security cooperation between Ecuador and the US, partners in the 17-country cartel-fighting alliance launched by President Donald Trump at a summit last weekend.

Reimberg said that the FBI's work in Ecuador would "begin immediately."

The US Embassy in Quito called the opening of the FBI office a "strategic and operational milestone" which would boost capacity to "identify, dismantle, and bring to justice those who traffic drugs, launder money, smuggle weapons, and finance terrorism."

The FBI also has offices in Colombia, Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, and Panama, according to its website.

Ecuador's iron-fisted President Daniel Noboa is one of Trump's staunchest allies on the continent.

Last week, US and Ecuadoran forces conducted joint strikes against cocaine-smuggling guerrillas in northern Ecuador.

Trump has offered to support military action against cartels with US missile strikes on narco kingpins.

Reimberg said Tuesday that a "very strong offensive" would begin on Sunday in areas worst affected by drug-related violence.

Around 70% of the drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest and second-largest cocaine producers, respectively, is shipped through neighboring Ecuador.

The drug trade has unleashed a bloody turf war that has turned one of Latin America's safest countries into one of its deadliest.