Chilean President Gabriel Boric with his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro, after a meeting this Monday, in Bogotá. Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda (EFE)
Gustavo Petro's first press conference as president of Colombia was with his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric.
On the morning of this Monday, the leaders have had a meeting in Bogotá to agree on joint work on key issues on the agenda of both countries, such as migration, the dignity of indigenous peoples and the "revitalization of the Andean community", said the Colombian president.
“We have talked in particular about revitalizing the Andean community, an issue that was built several decades ago, and that had, in the days of ECLAC, a very important role in planning the industrialization processes of our countries, but still maintains a institutionality that, in my opinion, should be strengthened.
We have invited Chile to look again at the issue of the Andean community, among various integration processes that already exist, to strengthen CELAC, which is also an institution throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
We have also raised in draft the issue of the integration of electric power and clean energy ”announced the Colombian president, accompanied by his chancellor, Álvaro Leyva.
From the Casa de Nariño, President Boric has reiterated Chile as the guarantor of the peace process with the ELN guerrillas.
Although he also offered his country as the venue, as Vice President Francia Márquez announced a few days ago during a visit to Santiago, Petro today indicated that the talks will resume from the point where they were interrupted four years ago.
"Whether the geographical location changes does not depend exclusively on us but on the conditions of those who want to negotiate, in this case the ELN, whose negotiators are already in Cuba," said the Colombian president.
"We have had a pleasant, deep conversation, the Latin American heart begins to beat together, this complicity has to go much more than rhetoric, we have to advance in concrete projects that improve the quality of life of our peoples."
Boric has also spoken of Venezuelan and Haitian migration as an important front for both countries.
“The migratory flow that we have throughout America to the north and to the south of different countries, from Haiti, from Venezuela is something that we have to address together, no country can provide the answer by itself, to the extent that we do respect our borders, we are going to give better conditions to those who are forced to migrate”, he said, accompanied by the Chilean Foreign Minister, Antonia Urrejola.
The leaders have also talked about feminist foreign policy, with the Chilean experience of a Cabinet led by women and Petro's promise to make a parity government.
Boric has highlighted the Colombian government's ambitious tax reform as a roadmap for the region as an opportunity to better distribute wealth and fight inequality.
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