2023-05-11 05:01:00
The Vice President of Colombia, France Marquezlaunched this Wednesday a eight-day tour of South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia with the purpose of strengthening political, economic, commercial and cultural relations with the African continent. The visitwhich will end on May 18, is the of the highest level of the Colombian government in 26 years to that continentwith which the diplomatic and commercial ties of the Latin American country were poor until now.
Márquez, the first Afro-Colombian in reaching the vice presidency, said last month in a Senate hearing that his trip to Africa is part of a strategy to have “an unprecedented rapprochement with this continent” in which he seeks to increase the presence of Colombia with the opening of new embassies. For this reason, Márquez traveled to South Africa on Wednesday, where his schedule will officially start on Friday.
large entourage
Márquez will be accompanied by a delegation of more than 50 people, including the Minister in charge of Culture, Jorge Ignacio Zorro, the Vice Minister of Tourism, Arturo Bravo, and the Vice Minister of Higher Education, Ana Carolina Quijano. She is also accompanied by four congressmen, five social and ethnic leaders, nine businessmen, representatives of the chambers of commerce of Bogotá, Tumaco, Buenaventura, Cartagena, San Andrés, Cauca and Chocó, and a cultural delegation made up of artists from the musical field, cinema and academics.
In Johannesburg, the first stage of his tour, Márquez will participate on Saturday in the Colombia South Africa High Level Forum together with the president of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mtho Xulu, and the vice minister Arturo Bravo. In Kenya he will visit the headquarters of the UN and UN Habitat and UN Environment, where “issues of climate justice and racial justice will be discussed”as advanced by the vice presidency on his agenda.
business prospects
In Ethiopia, where the tour will conclude, Márquez hopes to open the embassy of Addis Ababa, the city that houses the headquarters of the African Union, and which will be the fourth Colombian embassy in sub-Saharan Africa, along with those of Kenya, South Africa and Ghana. He will also meet with members of the Pan-African Parliament and with commissioners of the African Union. The Colombian government sees great commercial possibilities with Africaa continent that he considers “the region with the greatest potential for economic growth in the world”with “a population that will double by 2050.”
Márquez’s tour received criticism mainly from the opposition for his large entourage, which forced the Colombian president, Gustavo Petroto respond to those who question the cost of the trip that is “pure and simple racism”. “Colombia must relate to the whole world, to all of humanity. In our country there is a black and mulatto people, we also come from Africa. Culture and common interests bring us together,” the president defended on his Twitter account.
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