1 of 1 Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro meet February 16, 2023 — Photo: Juan Cano/AP Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro meet February 16, 2023 — Photo: Juan Cano/AP
The Presidents of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro and Colombia this Thursday (16) signed an agreement that will establish the rules of commercial relations between the two countries, which have been suspended for almost 7 years.
The agreement is still a first version of the trade rules between the two countries. The following must be determined:
- procedures for setting preferential tax rates;
- hygiene standards;
- mechanism for resolving disagreements;
- Proposals to increase the exchange of goods and services.
A trade deal was signed between the two countries more than ten years ago, but its terms have been suspended.
The document signed today is a “partial agreement that is another step towards integration that I believe should never have been suspended,” Petro said at the AtanasioGirardot Bridge, signed on Jan. 1, almost seven years after it was signed of the construction work, was inaugurated . “There’s still a lot to do,” he said.
Known as Tienditas, the bridge, which cost $32 million, was funded by the two countries to speed up vehicular traffic saturated in the first two binational bridges connecting Colombia’s Norte de Santander department to the Venezuelan state is Táchira, about 750 kilometers west of Caracas.
Maduro said the legal instrument puts the two countries on “the path of work, productivity, and economic and trade growth.”
Maduro also said, without giving details, that the deal also lays the groundwork for the creation of a special economic zone between Venezuela and Colombia.
Diplomatic and trade relations with Caracas were resumed with the coming to power of Petro Colombia’s first leftwing president in August 2022. His predecessor Iván Duque (20182022) called Nicolás Maduro a “dictator”.
Colombia was among the bloc of 50 countries that recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who declared himself interim president in 2019 by taking the post of head of the National Assembly, arguing Maduro was reelected in fraudulent elections in 2018.
International support for Guaidó has waned significantly over the years, and even his former opposition allies in the Assembly ended the interim government in December.
Bilateral trade resumed last September when the passage for cargo vehicles was opened through the Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander bridges; However, trade has not gained momentum, partly due to the lack of a legal document accompanying the reactivation of ties.
With the opening of the third bridge, the countries agreed on the passage of international freight and passenger traffic, with the latter initially being postponed.