The deputy prime minister of Ireland and Minister of Business, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, will pay an official visit to Colombia between March 14 and 18. It will be the highest level meeting of the Government of Ireland in the last five years in the country, and with what is sought build up a new agenda of opportunities in areas such as investment, trade, tourism, education, entrepreneurship, cooperation and political dialogue, between the two nations.
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Varadkar’s visit takes place within the framework of the celebration of the Irish holiday St. Patrick, that in this 2022 has as its flag “rebuild connections and support communities globally”, and to the new strategy of the European country for Latin America and the Caribbean, a region with which it seeks a positioning and two-way integration.
The senior Irish official will hold a meeting with the president Ivan Duke, the chancellor and vice president, Marta Lucía Ramírez, several cabinet ministers, and with representatives of the private sector and Irish companies installed in Colombia.
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“Colombia is a key partner for Ireland in this region. The visit of Deputy Prime Minister Varadkar reflects the interest in deepening our political and economic relations with Colombia, and takes place in the context of the recent launch of our Ireland Strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean.”, said the Irish ambassador to Colombia, Fiona Nic Dhonnacha.
“We are seeing growing interest from Irish companies in exploring the Colombian market, in innovative sectors such as financial technology and services, agricultural technology, aviation, life sciences and digital technologies. Both countries are experiencing a very positive post-pandemic economic recovery, and this visit will allow us to explore more opportunities for trade and investment in the future.”, added the diplomatic representative.
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For her part, the Colombian ambassador to Ireland, Patricia Cortes Ortiz, assured that the country wakes up “more and more interest“in Irish business,”thanks to the position of the country, as well as the solidity at the political and economic level”.
For its part, flavia santoror, president of ProColombia, explained that “With the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Varadkar in our country, we will amplify the message about the opportunity and potential of Colombia as an investment destination and as a strategic partner of Ireland in the region.”.
“We seek to increase Irish foreign direct investment, as well as triple and diversify Colombian exports to this marketSantoro assured.
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Ireland and Columbia they are strengthening their relations in the bilateral and multilateral fields. In February of this year, the European country launched the first strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean and was recently accepted as Observer State of the Pacific Alliance.
Colombia is the headquarters of operations of companies such as Smurfit Kappa, Viva Air, from the Irelandia Aviation group; Planet Payment, Mainstream Renewable, among others.
Smurfit Kappa, one of the Irish companies based in Colombia.
During the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Varadkar, the Colombia-Ireland Business Network will be formally launched; in which more than 20 companies from both countries will participate and which will contribute to the growth and expansion of economic ties between the two markets.
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