Spain strengthens its cooperation with Colombia with the Country Association Agreement
The governments of Spain and Colombia gave a boost to bilateral cooperation on Friday with the signing in Bogotá of the Country Partnership Framework, a strategy that defines the priorities of the European nation's aid to the South American nation with funds of 120 million euros.
The document was signed by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, who is visiting Colombia to underline the commitment to the peace agreement and Venezuelan migration, as well as to the promotion of trade and investment, and by her Colombian counterpart, Claudia Blum.
The Colombia Country Partnership Framework seeks to contribute to the strengthening of the rule of law with the development of inclusive and gender-equitable policies in order to consolidate peace in the regions most affected by violence and poverty.
The Spanish minister, who is on a three-day visit to Colombia, said after signing the document that it not only reflects political support for the peace agreement signed in November 2016 with the former FARC guerrillas but also encompasses financial aid for development.
"In addition to our political support, we also want to provide financial support through the Cooperation Framework that we have just signed, where we are making 120 million euros available to Colombia over the next four years, in priorities that are the priorities of Colombia for Colombia, but which we share," she said.
Blum, for his part, thanked Spain for its contribution to Colombia's development and said that 70 million euros will be "in non-refundable technical cooperation" and the other 50 million euros in financial credits for the years 2021-2024.
"We positively highlight the agreement and the signing of the Colombian-Spanish cooperation strategy that constitutes the Country Partnership Framework 2021-2024," said the Colombian foreign minister.
Ratifying Spain's support for peace in Colombia is one of the three objectives of González Laya's visit to Colombia, which, she acknowledged, should have taken place last year, but "covid prevented us from doing so".
In listing these objectives, she stressed that the first is to "strengthen relations between Colombia and Spain, projecting ourselves into the post-covid period, imagining the economic and social recovery that will come in the second half of this year", when the most difficult part of the pandemic has been overcome and progress has been made in vaccination.
In this regard, she stressed that economic recovery requires an increase in trade and investment relations, for which Spain can be of great help because more than 600 of its companies are established here and the country as a whole is the second largest foreign employer.
"They are companies committed to this country, they are companies that want to continue contributing" to increasing and improving exchanges between the two countries, something he noted in a meeting he held this morning with representatives of Spanish companies.
Among the opportunities she envisaged for both countries are the decarbonisation of their economies, sustainability and exchanges in the tourism and services sector, as well as cultural exchanges, among others.
The second objective of his visit is to "recognise the great, generous effort" of Colombia towards Venezuelan migrants, some two million of whom will benefit from the Temporary Protection Statute announced on 8 February by Colombian President Iván Duque.
"At a time when other countries are closing their doors and building walls, Colombia has chosen to welcome and temporarily protect the thousands of Venezuelans who are in its territory. It is a noble gesture, it is a generous gesture, it is a gesture that the Government of Spain wishes to recognise and support", she said.
To this end, she will travel tomorrow to Cúcuta, a city on the border with Venezuela, to see first-hand the situation in which thousands of recently arrived immigrants are living and the aid they are receiving from Colombia and the international community.
With regard to peace, the Spanish minister stressed the support that her country has given from the outset to the reconciliation of Colombians.
He expressed this position in detail in a meeting he held this morning with the heads of the institutions that make up the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition, created at the behest of the peace agreement with the FARC, to whom she expressed his country's "firm and decisive" support.
"That is why Spain, a country that has also known the conflict, firmly and resolutely supports the work of these institutions, knowing as we know that their task is not finished, that their task will last because the wounds caused by this conflict are deep," she said.
The meeting with the head of Spanish diplomacy was attended by the presidents of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), Eduardo Cifuentes; of the Truth Commission, the Jesuit priest Francisco de Roux, and the director of the Unit for the Search for Missing Persons (UBPD), Luz Marina Monzón.
The minister pointed out that these three institutions are fundamental "to clarify the past, to shed light on the past" and that only in this way "will it be possible to build a future for Colombians, a strong future, a future built on solid foundations".
