SmallCapNews | 19 May 2022
Colombia has formalized its free trade agreement with the United Kingdom
by Edmond Reeves
Colombia on Wednesday formalized its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom, a status reinforced as a result of a meeting between the President of the Republic, Evan Duque, and the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, amid the president’s agenda in London.
In this sense, Colombia became one of the first countries in Latin America to sign a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom after its exit from the European Union or Britain’s exit from the European Union.
High-level sources from the Presidency of the Republic revealed to “Semana” agency that Colombia has completed all its internal constitutional and legal procedures for the entry into force of the free trade agreement with the United Kingdom.
As it turns out that Colombia and the UK have maintained their tariff preferences, through diplomatic notes every 6 months “until this historic moment in which the FTA was formalized” was highlighted by the national government.
In the same way, several bilateral dialogues were discussed, which will focus on specific chapters from: data protection, infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, life sciences, financial services and creative industries.
The national government revealed that the United Kingdom is the third investor in Colombia with cumulative investments between 2000 and 2021 amounting to $22.6 billion. In addition, in 2022, investments of $480 million in infrastructure, renewable energies, and mobility will be formalized.
After that, the UK will be instrumental in developing our sustainable tourism policy through investments in this sector and the influx of tourists.
President Evan Duque tweeted, revealing details of the meeting with Johnson: “During #WorkVisitToLondon, we had a nice meeting with UK Prime Minister, BorisJohnson. Addressing the formalization of the FTA, #EnergyTransition, the fight against #ClimateCrisis, immigration and security; moving our bilateral relations to its highest levels.”