Colombia joins Bolivia in its international campaign to decriminalize coca leaf consumption.

Laura Gil, Colombian vice-minister of Multilateral Affairs announced that she will make a request to the UN to have the plant removed from the list of prohibited substances.

The request will be made to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

According to Gil, Bogotá wants to follow the Bolivian example of vindicating the ancestral and "sacred" value of coca chewing.

But the official remarked that the aim is the legalization of the leaf, not of cocaine.

The Bolivian government has been demanding decriminalization of coca before the UN for more than a decade.