German Umana, Minister of Commerce of Colombia, pointed out that his country’s trade with Venezuela could reach 1,200 million dollars this year. This after the commitment of the new Colombian president Gustavo Petro to reactivate commercial relations.
In early 2019, relations between the two nations broke down after the government of Nicolás Maduro refused to allow the Venezuelan opposition to send humanitarian aid across the Colombian border.
However, after the proclamation of Petro as president of Colombia, the two countries appointed their ambassadors respective. In Umaña’s opinion, this could strengthen Venezuela’s commercial growth and economic recovery, as reported by Reuters.
“If the border is opened, if the smuggling issues are resolved… we are going to see a trade of 1,000 million or 1,200 million dollars this year. Not the 600 million dollars envisaged”, he told the press during the Colombian Association of Entrepreneurs in the port of Cartagena.
He stressed that by 2026 trade between Colombia and Venezuela is expected to increase to 4.5 billion dollars.
However, for Irene Vélez, the new Minister of Mines and Energy of Colombia, from the current government no new gas contracts will be delivered. Although this resource could be imported from Venezuela. This is provided that the reserves of the 180 existing projects are insufficient, with which a transition to cleaner and renewable energy would be carried out.
One of Gustavo Petro’s promises during his campaign was to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
“If having exceeded those gas reserves… we still needed to fill our energy matrix, it could be done with that connection that we could have for gas transportation with Venezuela,” Veléz explained to the Blu Radio station.
