Xinhua News Agency, Bogota, May 21, Title: Colombia and the era symphony of the “the Belt and Road”
In August 2022, Colombian President Petro quoted the ending of his literary masterpiece Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” in his inaugural speech: “Everything on the parchment will never be repeated again, because families destined to endure a hundred years of loneliness will not have a second chance to appear on the earth.” Immediately, he changed the subject and declared in a powerful tone, “Today, this second opportunity has begun
Today, Colombia has officially joined the high-quality “the Belt and Road” family, which has injected momentum into this deep expectation. Joining hands with the “the Belt and Road” is a milestone in the sustainable development of the strategic partnership between the two countries on the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and it is also a strategic choice for Colombia to grasp the pulse of the times and conform to the trend of development.
Colombia urgently seeks and cherishes the opportunities brought by the joint construction of the “the Belt and Road”, which stems from the endogenous needs of national development. The relative backwardness of infrastructure, especially transportation bottlenecks, once made the country’s development path as rugged and long as the Andes Mountains. The helpless joke circulating among the citizens of the capital Bogota, ‘Bogota is two hours away from Bogota’, is a true reflection of the long-term traffic congestion.
One of the largest infrastructure projects in Colombia to date, the Bogota Metro Line 1, which is being constructed and operated by Chinese companies, will change the future of the city. As of April 30, 2025, Bogota Metro Line 1 has completed approximately 54% of its construction progress, directly or indirectly creating around 13000 job opportunities. Maria Constanza Botero, Deputy General Manager of the Bogota Metro Line 1 project company, stated that after the subway is put into use, the commuting time between the first and last stations will be reduced from nearly 3 hours to 27 minutes, and it is expected that 3 million people will directly or indirectly benefit from this change.
Colombia’s enthusiasm for jointly building the “the Belt and Road” is also rooted in the increasingly close and fruitful economic and trade exchanges between the two countries. China has been Colombia’s second largest trading partner for several consecutive years, while Colombia is China’s fifth largest trading partner in Latin America. In 2024, the trade scale between China and Colombia reached 149.63 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%. In the first four months of this year, China’s imports and exports to Colombia amounted to 48.34 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%, reaching a new historical high for the same period. The cooperation in agricultural products is particularly impressive. Colombia has become the third largest source of imports for Chinese coffee and fresh cut flowers. In the first four months of this year, the import value of coffee alone reached 470 million yuan, and the import of fresh cut flowers also increased by 14.6%. These tangible benefits make all Colombian people look forward to the broader opportunities of China brought by the joint construction of the “the Belt and Road”.
Ingrid Chavez, Executive Director of the Colombia China Investment and Trade Association, said that there is enormous potential for cooperation between Colombia and China because “both sides have the political will to develop business”. She believes that strengthening relations with China can help Colombia diversify its development partners.
Looking at Latin America, many iconic projects such as Argentina’s “Kise” hydroelectric power station and Peru’s Qiankai Port have landed one after another, injecting strong impetus into the local economic and social development. As an important member of the global South, China Latin America partnership not only creates a huge potential market, but also adds new momentum to the development of people’s livelihoods and global prosperity for both sides. As the rotating presidency of CELAC, Colombia has chosen to join the high-quality “the Belt and Road” family, which conforms to the trend of this era of regional cooperation and common development and demonstrates its firm will to promote national development and promote China Latin America cooperation.
From the call for “the second opportunity”, to the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Colombia since the establishment of diplomatic relations for 45 years, to embracing the joint construction of the “the Belt and Road”, Colombia is actively portraying a new vision of national development. At a new historical starting point, Colombia will take advantage of the “the Belt and Road” initiative to jointly write a new chapter of mutual benefit, win-win results and common development with China, and contribute to building a closer community of common destiny between China and Latin America.