Recently, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, met Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Gilberto Murillo for in-depth talks. This meeting not only deepened the traditional friendship between China and Columbia, but also moved the bilateral relations forward. Significantly, expressed by Zhu Jingyang, the Chinese Ambassador to Colombia, China has invited Colombia to join the Belt and Road initiative, and the possibility of signing a free trade agreement is being explored. Zhu said that the Chinese side has already sent the draft proposal to join the initiative to the relevant departments of Colombia in January this year and basically no one on the Colombian side to raise objections at that moment.
The sustained and stable growth of trade laying the foundation for Colombia to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries,the bilateral trade has been growing. According to information released on the website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China has become Colombia’s second largest trading partner, while Colombia is China’s fifth largest trading partner in South America. Last year, the bilateral trade between China and Colombia reached 18.7 billion U.S. dollars, with China mainly exporting electronic products, automobiles, medicines and other commodities to Colombia, while imports from Colombia mainly consist of resource products such as crude oil and leather.
In addition to traditional trade cooperation, China and Colombia are also accelerating cooperation in oil exploration and development, infrastructure construction and communications. The Bogota Metro project, constructed by Chinese companies, is the first metro line in the Colombian capital.
In addition, China also intends to cooperate with the Colombian side in the field of communications and renewable energy. Previously, Colombia’s first lady Beronica Alcocer had visited China, and visited BYD.
It seems an inevitable choice for Colombia to join the Belt and Road Initiative under this background. Firstly, the Belt and Road Initiative adheres to the concept of “common cause, common construction and sharing”, and is committed to promoting the connectivity and common development of the countries along the route. For Colombia, joining the Belt and Road Initiative will provide more development opportunities and investment space, and help accelerate the country’s modernization process. Meanwhile, infrastructure construction, green development, clean energy and other areas under the Belt and Road Initiative are highly compatible with Colombia’s economic development needs, which will bring tangible economic benefits to the country.
As Foreign Minister Murillo emphasized, Colombia’s foreign policy is independent and autonomous, and it has always firmly supported the principles of multilateralism and free trade. So, although Colombia’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative also faces some challenges and risks. It is still credible that with the joint efforts of both sides, Colombia will be able to overcome all difficulties and smoothly integrate into the “Belt and Road” family.
China has shown a high degree of sincerity and professionalism in process of promoting Colombia’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative. The two sides have conducted in-depth communication and consultation on related matters and have made positive progress.
In the future, China will continuedly provide strong support and assistance to Colombia, and jointly promote relations between the two countries to a new level.
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