President Gustavo Petro met this Thursday with Nicolas Maduro on the Colombian-Venezuelan border. The meeting was held at the Atanasio Girardot bridge, in Tienditas, within the framework of the signing of the partial scope agreement of a commercial nature 28.
“We are signing a partial agreement, which is one more integration step than ever, in my opinion, should have been suspended“said President Petro.
(See: Relive the best moments of the meeting between Petro and Maduro).
Below are the most notable interventions by the leaders during their meeting.
An ‘economic zone’ on the border?
Maduro proposed to the president Petro the creation of a binational economic zone of shared development between North of Santander and Táchira.
“Trade is going to grow, not like when the oil checkbook was there. I was even speaking with Norte de Santander, Freddy Bernal is an enthusiast, a promoter of a binational economic development zone and I believe that this agreement lays the foundations for us to take steps in that direction.Maduro said.
The Venezuela of today
“The Venezuela of today is very different from that of 2011, when we signed this partial agreement of a commercial nature. We had an oil checkbook to go out and buy what the world needed to buy. (…) It didn’t matter to produce because we had petrodollars to buy everything. Today the situation is different, because Venezuela is subject to a regime of blockade and economic persecution”, added the Venezuelan president.
(See: Venezuelan opposition seeks option in October for primary elections).
‘A new dynamic of trade expansion’
The Venezuelan president pointed out that, with the signing of this new agreement, tariffs and trade priorities are updated and that the objective is to achieve a new dynamic of expansion of trade between Colombia and Venezuela.
Dynamics between countries
In his speech, the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, pointed out that this is an opportunity to establish a new commercial and population dynamic. “On the first of January, we took an important step: that all the steps that unite us be opened (…) We are in a new phase of building relationships in all senses“, said.
‘Here (at the border) there must be legality’
Petro noted that “handing over this line (border) to the mafia, to organizations degraded in the conflict in illegal economies, which have established their domain around this line, cannot happen again. Here there must be a legality so that the rights of the people on one side and the other of the line are protected.”.
(See: Colombia and Venezuela sign cross-border investment agreement).
‘A common bridge without barriers’
President Petro pointed out that situations like those experienced in the past at the border should not happen again. “What happened in the immediate past should not be repeated, what was built on these trails where people passed from one place to another, in a systematic violation of human rights against women, of sexual abuse”.
Before this meeting, the last meeting between Petro and Maduro took place on January 7 at the Miraflores Palace, in Caracas.
At that time, in a joint statement issued by both, it was reported that the leaders “had an exhaustive meeting of the fundamental issues of the bilateral relationship.”
(See: Venezuela: what vehicles entering Colombia must comply with).
There, the role of Venezuela as country guarantor of peace and it was emphasized that “Venezuela will support Colombia in its objective of maintaining a bilateral ceasefire.”
Progress in the opening of border points between the two countries which, according to the authorities, has allowed “improving the conditions of Colombian and Venezuelan citizens in the border areas.”
In addition, they reviewed issues of bilateral trade, cross-border investment and the promotion of agricultural, industrial and service agreements.
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