Venezuela signs partial agreement with Colombia paving the way for trade expansion

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stressed that signing the Partial Scope Agreement of a Commercial Nature with Colombia lays the foundations for a new dynamic of trade expansion between the two nations.

“The signing of this trade agreement that updates everything that has to do with tariffs, that updates everything that has to do with products to be exchanged, the priorities, lays the foundations for a new dynamic of expansion of trade between Colombia and Venezuela”, said the Venezuelan President during a broadcast on the state-owned Venezolana de Televisión channel.

The president explained that relations between both nations entered a new phase in the commercial sphere on January 1, when the common border was officially opened.

On his part, President Gustavo Petro highlighted that the signing of the partial agreement represents one more step in integrating both countries and affirmed that since his inauguration, significant steps had been taken in that direction.

Earlier, the plenary of the National Assembly (unicameral parliament – with a pro-government majority) approved in the first discussion the Bill of Law Approving the Agreement with Colombia regarding the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments; the parliament will review the document for its second debate.

On the other hand, on Thursday, the Venezuelan Parliament unanimously approved the authorization to appoint Carlos Eduardo Martínez Mendoza as Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia.

With information from Sputnik