[Economics] Relations between Colombia and China go through their best moment

[Draeno]

 

Relations with China have been strengthening in recent years. The potential of the Asian giant in terms of infrastructure, technology and other sectors make it position itself as the leading Asian investor in the country. Ingrid Chaves, executive director of the Colombian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, spoke with Portafolio about the advances in diplomatic relations.

(Read: China disagrees with US sanction for alleged aid to Russia).

How are the relationships?

They are at their best. This year we celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations and China, before the pandemic, became the country's second partner in trade and the first Asian investor in Colombia.

What do you expect with the new government?

We hope that diplomatic relations will deepen. A good start was the appointment of Sergio Cabrera as Colombian ambassador to China. He has experience in the country and surely this will advance very closely with the relationship with entities, which we consider very good. We have accompanied state visits to China, so we hope it will continue to be so.

What plans are you working on?

We are waiting for the Belt and Road initiative, which would greatly strengthen relations. It is an initiative in which almost 20 Latin American countries are members, where a memorandum of understanding is signed, which in reality for the Chinese represents a matter of friendship. It is not so much the milestones of a trade agreement, but a matter of mutual benefits in cultural, diplomatic and commercial spheres.

What size participation does China have in Colombia?

At this time, China is the main investor in Colombia. We have close to 40 companies that have decided to invest, of those we have a total of US$2,000 million and 40,000 jobs created, this as of last year. Surely these figures have increased since the end of 2022 with the presence of more projects such as the Regiotram, the metro, etc. In our joint database with the embassy, we have around 100 Chinese companies that have a representation in Colombia and we expect it to grow.

(Also: According to a US agency, the covid would have left a Chinese laboratory).

How has tourism behaved?

Since 2012, around 3,500 Chinese travelers have passed through Colombia, to reach a peak of 20,000 before the start of the pandemic. That is also the situation that we want to develop and promote from the Chamber. On the contrary, as a Colombian in China, he was affected by the pandemic and the Zero Covid policies, but we hope that he will return to pre-pandemic levels. We had at least 12,000 Colombians in Chinese territory, of whom at least 4,000 were tourists, 3,000 went for business and 1,000 or 1,500 went for work reasons.

In terms of exports, how are they doing?

We want to promote the export of non-traditional products such as coffee, flowers, textiles, processed products, which are now in trend, and avocado. Our presence there as a Chamber is going to become more important because we are going to open an office in Shanghai in mid-April. China has a great demand for agricultural products and this is what they want to promote.

 

https://www.portafolio.co/economia/china-y-colombia-relaciones-comerciales-pasan-por-su-mejor-momento-579113