Pedro Sánchez underlines the strength of economic relations between Spain and Colombia

Bogota (Colombia)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, today took part in a business meeting with Spanish and Colombian companies and economic players, as part of the Latin American tour that Sánchez has started in Colombia, during which he will also visit Ecuador and Honduras.

President Sánchez is accompanied on this trip by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, in addition to a large delegation of Spanish companies and representatives of the CEOE and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.

The Government is hereby supporting the more than 800 Spanish companies operating in Colombia in all sectors, thus reaffirming the willingness of our companies to contribute to the economic priorities being promoted by the Colombian President, Gustavo Petro.

The capacity of Spanish companies to continue taking part in the process of economic growth, job creation and social responsibility in Colombia is also expressed. These are companies with a clear wish to stay in business and to contribute to the development of the country, creating wealth and thereby improving people's lives.

The President underlined the strength of trade and investment relations between Spain and Colombia, as well as the will to "want to further strengthen" these economic ties, benefiting from the existing harmony and affinity between the governments of the two countries in the priority areas of their respective modernising economic agendas.

"The convergence of the respective political and economic agendas of the two countries is hugely important," Pedro Sánchez stressed. "The priorities established by the new Colombian government in energy transition, infrastructure and especially railways, connectivity and digitalisation, improvement of agricultural production and sanitation and water management are a unique opportunity for Spanish companies, which are world leaders in these sectors. Courageous companies with no fear or doubts when it comes to tackling large iconic projects".

Spanish companies are firmly committed to these projects to diversify and transform the productive structure that President Petro's new government is promoting.

This stance was particularly highlighted during the economic and business forum held by the Colombian Minister for Trade, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña, who stressed that, "although the figures say that Spain is the second largest investor in Colombia, in reality it is the first, because it is the first in terms of quality and knowledge, in qualitative terms".

For President Sánchez, the Government of Spain and Spanish companies can and want to contribute to President Petro's commitment to fight climate change. "Not only with investment, but by sharing regulatory expertise and technical knowledge, and particularly in areas such as managing the integration of decentralised clean energies into the conventional electricity grid, progress towards the electrification of transport and improving the efficiency and energy savings of the housing stock".

The focus of all these actions is the intrinsic value of inclusive progress because the President of the Government believes that only fair and sustainable growth, which assumes the need to reduce inequality and is centred on the needs of people and the planet, will be capable of generating solid and lasting progress and stability.

"The progress that transforms inclusion into an engine of change", underlined Pedro Sánchez, "that transforms it into opportunities for forgotten regions, for women and men who are used to living on the margins of a society and who cannot move forward if many of their members lose their way almost at birth".

Non official translation