In the midst of the advancement of diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela, both countries will present 16 bilateral cooperation projects at the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), announced this Friday a joint delegation chaired by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.
These projects, as it was known, are focused on areas such as agribusiness, petrochemicals, multimodal transport and tourism interconnectivity; as well as in the axes of sustainability, economic reactivation, support for MSMEs and complementary integration.
The announcement of these projects was made at the installation of the ‘Colombo-Venezuelan government, union and business meeting’, sponsored by CAF itself, which took place this Friday in Bogotá.
“Part of the plans that we bring to CAF are linked to objectives that aim to preserve the environment (…) These agreements go beyond commercial exchange, we are going to advance in bilateral consolidation,” said Wilmar Castro Sotelo, minister for Productive Agriculture and Lands of Venezuela.
In the presentation of the event, four of the plans were discussed. One of them is focused on expanding oil palm production in an area of 120,000 hectares on the bilateral border. The Minister of Agriculture, Cecilia López, said that among the emphasis of this project is to support small and medium producers.
Another project is related to the production of sugar cane, covering 4,250 hectares, between Norte de Santander and Táchira. Likewise, other projects are focused on the bilateral production of cotton, livestock and reforestation forest.
In tourism, for its part, it seeks to recreate the route of the Liberator Simón Bolívar.
As for the industry, there is the supply of gas to Colombia, a project that has been in the eye of public opinion due to energy dependence, however, they did not offer more details.
Air connectivity was another of the points of the projects to be discussed. According to the Minister of Transportation of Colombia, Gullermo Reyes, resources will be sought to strengthen the Cúcuta airport to assume the new wave of attraction that this border pole will have.
Restoration of relations
With the inauguration of President Gustavo Petro, Colombia took a turn in its foreign policy towards Venezuela, by recognizing the Administration of Nicolás Maduro and the reestablishment of diplomatic and commercial relations.
Representatives of the governments of Colombia and Venezuela.
In this regard, the border between Norte de Santander and Táchira reopened for commercial passage and for the passage of private vehicles on January 1, which will complete the reopening of this space.
The Minister of Commerce, Germán Umaña, emphasized that thanks to this, the trade flow between the two countries would close the year between US$750 million and US$800 million and is expected to double by 2023, thus confirming the projections previously offered.
The biggest debt from the reestablishment of diplomatic relations is air operations. Although the return of flights between the capitals has already been announced, the launch of the offers by commercial airlines still remains.
Ramón Velázquez, Minister of Transportation of Venezuela, confirmed that four Colombian airlines and the same number of Venezuelans have submitted their forms to be able to fly between bilateral skies. However, he emphasized that these announcements will be made in due time, since “there is still a need” to deliver the respective documentation and that “each of the requirements is met.”
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