Venezuela and Colombia officially restored their diplomatic relations, which were severed more than three years ago, with the arrival in Caracas yesterday of the Colombian ambassador appointed by the new president, Gustavo Petros.
“Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed, we are brothers and not an imaginary line can separate us,” the ambassador, Armando Benedetti, said via Twitter.
According to the diplomat, more than 8 million Colombians secure their livelihood thanks to bilateral trade with Venezuela. One of the purposes of renewing bilateral diplomatic ties is to restore bilateral trade relations.
Caracas and Bogotá announced on August 11 their intention to exchange ambassadors.
Apart from the exchange of ambassadors, the normalization process also foresees the full opening of the 2,000-kilometer-plus border that the two countries share, which has been completely closed to vehicles since 2015 and reopened to pedestrians late last year. Caracas and Bogotá also intend to restore relations between their armed forces.
The Colombia-Venezuela Chamber of Commerce predicts that bilateral trade will be worth between $800 million and $1.2 billion in 2022. It did not exceed $400 million last year.
Caracas cut diplomatic ties with Bogotá in February 2019 after right-wing President Ivan Duque decided not to recognize the re-election of his socialist counterpart Nicolas Maduro, but to support self-proclaimed interim president opposition leader Juan Guaido.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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