The reopening of the border with Venezuela was one of the key issues in President Gustavo Petro’s campaign. In recent days, the president confirmed that this event would take place next September 26.
(Read: Venezuela authorizes the return of flights from Colombia).
Decision that implies the reestablishment of the commercial and diplomatic relations with the neighboring country.
However, during the government of Iván Duque, relations with Venezuela were challenging and the border It was closed for more than three years. Therefore, the recovery of relations is a key event for both nations.
The mayor of Cúcuta, Jairo Yáñez, celebrated the decision because after the closure of the border, the economic losses and about 5,000 jobs have been very large. For example, one of the most affected sectors was international trade “which a few years ago reached 7,000 million dollars, where Cúcuta was the epicenter of at least 70 percent of that operation,” he explained.
“These are positive reactions given that this border was affected for 7 years by continuous border closures. There are more than two million inhabitants between Táchira (Venezuela) and Norte de Santander who were affected by the frequent closures of border crossings”, stated Víctor Bautista, Secretary of Borders and International Cooperation of Norte de Santander.
Along with this, the official explained that in this area there is a market that has historically been important for the border departments (Santander, Norte de Santander, Arauca, Cesar, La Guajira), so he sees them as an opportunity to reactivate the economy. and prepare skills and understand short and medium term needs.
Initially, the commercial impact will be significant for the airline industry. The Venezuelan government officially included Colombia in the list of countries that have permission to cover business trips to and from.
The airlines Wingo, Avianca and Latam would be waiting to report the itineraries of the routes that for now will be between Caracas, Valencia and Bogotá.
(Also: Benedetti explains how the reopening of the border with Venezuela will be).
Armando Benedetti, Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, during his first meeting with Nicolás Maduro.
AFP
“We believe that the Venezuelan market is a very important market, which it has always been for Colombia, and that it is a complementary market and, consequently, the important thing is that all the conditions be regulated, especially that it be guaranteed that the payments will be realize”Julián Domínguez, president of Confecamaras, pointed out to Portafolio.
For his part, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, affirmed that with the reopening of the border 2,000 million dollars of commercial exchange will be generated andn the remainder of the year.
Maduro said that this amount can be reached with the “high quality” products that Colombia will sell and those that Venezuela will put on the market, which has an “exportable offer.”
(Keep reading: Colombia and Venezuela: an unequal commercial reopening).
It should be remembered that Colombia and Venezuela, which share a porous 2,219-kilometer border, have not had diplomatic relations since they were broken on February 23, 2019 by order of President Maduro, amid an escalation of tensions with his Colombian counterpart at the time, Iván Duque, for his support of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EFE*
