China and Colombia – Relations at Its Highest Peak哥伦比亚— 中国 双边关系处于历史最高水平

The year 2022 marks the 42nd Anniversary of establishment of Diplomatic Relations between our two countries. Over these more than four decades we have benefited from the stable and safe development of our relations through frequent high-level contacts and intensified exchanges which have not only strengthened but also diversified the areas of collaboration, as well as our common goals and achievements.

The fluidity of the dialogue and connection among our people and Governments throughout the years has stimulated and advanced the deepening of our mutual understanding, leading to 2019, when during a State Visit to China, in a trip with the highest profile in Sino-Colombian relations history, presidents Ivan Duque and Xi Jinping, presented a roadmap to harmonize the development of our ties as nations for the coming decades. Following up on that visit they held a phone call in the spring of 2021 to discuss and assert the sound development of bilateral exchanges.

The last two years, however, have been determinant for humanity. Despite the complexities and circumstances that we are facing in the midst of a pandemic, the realities and the shape of cooperation between our two countries only keep getting stronger, allowing us to enjoy more consistent and mature perspectives for the future.

That is to say that our bilateral efforts have not evolved exclusively in one or two sectors, since we have been able to deepen our friendship looking for a Strategic Partnership that covers more joint work on investment, financing, commerce, tourism, agriculture, science, health and technology, education, sports, culture, and of course, the basis of any relationship, people to people exchanges. In many of these endeavors our Ministry of Foreign Affairs works articulated with our promotion agency for investment, trade, and tourism, ProColombia, to achieve what we believe, so far, are extraordinary accomplishments.

⬆ Night View of Cartagena de Indias,Colombia

Investment
In the last 50 years Colombia has grown on a yearly average of 6.9% (10.2% in 2021) and we are the fourth largest economy in the region. We have optimal mid-term growth projections, based on a solid financial system and an independent and coherent monetary policy where we are and will remain committed to provide a stable environment for all business in all sectors.

Moreover, we represent an attractive market of 50 million people, third in Latin America, with a growing middle class with increasing purchasing power, and with a surge in the demand of products and services. We also offer access to a network of commercial agreements with over 60 countries with a combined population of 1.5 billion, all connected through air and sea. This presents the opportunity to relocate more companies in the productive and manufacturing sector to serve our country, and other closer objective markets.

We are one of the friendliest countries towards Foreign Direct investment, currently ranking as the 30th recipient country of FDI worldwide and we provide plenty of incentives through our strategically located free trade zones and different tax benefits and advantages. We have developed a well-organized institutional framework for investment through the Public-Private Partnership – PPP – modality. This model guarantees long-term budget planning, facilitating the provision and maintenance of infrastructure within the budgeted limits of the entities. It also contributes to transparent decision-making focused on an adequate structuring of projects, including studies, risk analysis, economic evaluation, and justification of the contracting model. Furthermore, there are realistic prices, no payments in advance, and the payments are made according to the fulfillment and availability of the services.

Colombia ranks second in Latin America and the Caribbean for its ability to develop PPP´s and leads the region in the quality of this sort of regulations. Additionally in the World Bank report “Procuring Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships, 2018” Colombia ranks as third country worldwide with the most efficient PPP program to develop infrastructure, just behind UK and Australia.

It is well known that Colombia´s most relevant infrastructure projects today are in hands of Chinese companies and consortiums, and we encourage and welcome future participation in the upcoming bidding processes and projects in several sectors such as transportation and energy.

The Colombian government is devoted to transforming the country and launched an Intermodal Transportation Master Plan that extends until 2035 to improve roads, airports, ports, and our energy, gas, and water facilities. In this regard, the comprehensive project includes around 6 billion dollars in rehabilitation, expansion, and modernization of 31 airports. On the other hand, we are executing a fluvial Plan consisting of 13 river projects with an investment of 1.6 billion dollars and 433 million to maintain the port infrastructure.

In terms of roads, the existing projects are worth around 60 billion dollars to build 7,000 km of new highways, 1,370 km of double-lane highways, 141 tunnels, and 1,300 viaducts, and there will be more than 3.4 billion dollars to recover more than around 2,000 km of railways network. To achieve these goals and contribute to employment and economic recovery, the first wave of 5G (Fifth Generation) projects is underway with more than 14 initiatives creating around 635.000 employments. These developments are planned with two fundamental axes: (i) completing the critical corridors of foreign trade and (ii) connecting the country with multimodality from north to south. Likewise, 5G projects are the mainstream of Colombia´s commitment with sustainable development where environment, society, financing, and institutions are at the core of its planning and execution.

Commerce

In trade, the volume of bilateral commerce has made China our second largest trading partner and our first source of imports, as well as placing Colombian exports to China in USD 3.9 billion during 2021 for a 27% increase compared to 2020. Granted that most of those exports are from the mining and energy sector, our non-mining and added value exports (currently around 5% of total exports to China) are however on the rise, going up by 52% between 2020 and 2021. We are focused on sustaining this upward trend year by year.

Consequently, there has been an increase of the presence of Colombian products and byproducts in the Chinese market such as avocado, coffee of the highest quality, fruit pulps, flowers, chocolate and other confectionary, liquors, and other beverages, as well as swimwear, women´s underwear and clothing, leather products and fashion accessories, garments, and jewelry. Furthermore, we highlight the strong interest of Chinese importers and distributors for Colombian tropical fruits and high-grade bovine and porcine meat for which we soon expect to attain admissibility based on adherence to technical and sanitary measures and conditions and the commitment made by the Chinese leadership during the State Visit of 2019.  

Not only the interest of the Chinese companies has been key to accelerate the trade between our countries, but similarly our enterprises are acquiring a more comprehensive understanding of the market and the consumers. During 2021, Colombia participated for the third year consecutively in the IV edition of CIIE in Shanghai, with an agribusiness pavilion. More so, we use and participate in all available channels, trade shows and specialized fairs in China and organize different activities, like webinars, training programs, promotion events, forums, and others to bring our goods closer to the market.

We are also aware of the behavior of the world economy and its current consumption dynamics permeated by digitalization, especially in China, that has presented new opportunities through cross-border e-commerce allowing to lower entrance costs to the country and incentivizing the diversification of clients, companies and products without physical presence required. Our promotion agency has set this – soon to be dominant -segment as priority and has been actively providing guidance, and training opportunities for entering and tapping the immense potential to accommodate to the demand that e-commerce has in China. Increasingly, more and more Colombian products are making their debut in China´s different online channels to sell their products.

Commercially speaking, we are aware China is the second largest consumption market and most likely the largest goods trader, and well on its way to become the biggest retailer in world. Our companies, while continuously working and adapting for more presence in the market, are proud and pleased to be able to display their products in China´s shelves.

Pandemic

Another important element of our bilateral agenda is the support we have received from China in facing the global pandemic. Our main objective is to reach high rates of vaccination to achieve economic recovery and stabilization after the fall originated by COVID-19, and today we can say that more than 27 million doses applied in our country have come from China so far. This has helped us advancing our National Vaccination Plan to cover at least 70% of our population.

Last year, President Xi Jinping sent an unprecedented video directed to Colombia, manifesting the country´s support during these difficult times and highlighting the importance of pandemic and vaccination cooperation. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides have extended sympathy and support for each other, demonstrating the profound friendship, featuring mutual support and solidarity.

The efforts towards recovery have forced a lot of emerging economies like Colombia, to increase their debt and deficit to guarantee health, social and fiscal stability. With great efforts, the country passed the most important fiscal reform for capital and resources collection, earning 1.8% of the country’s GDP, strengthening public finance stability and deficit reduction without affecting enterprises competitiveness.

Science and Technology

We are then not only providing stability for enterprises, but also, accelerated by the pandemic, undergoing the buildout of Colombia´s digital transformation policy. Several cooperation opportunities are arising with China on new technologies, IoT, AI, cybersecurity, Cloud Computing and Data Intelligence, all of which are proven to be vital to enhance the development capacity of the countries for better decision making in both private and public sectors.

In this regard, we bring to the attention of investors, governments and partners that Colombia hosts the Regional 4th Industrial Revolution Center affiliated to the World Economic Forum. It entails the country to pursue the transition to an economy based on data to improve competitiveness, enhance SME´s performance, position it as a reference nation in Agriculture 4.0 and lead on development and implementation of ethical and regulatory frameworks for the responsible use of technologies.

Many of our development policies aim to tackle current challenges by enhancing social and economic value through digital technologies, to drive productivity and sustainable growth, which similarly is necessary to effectively work in two topics that are of the highest relevance and require ambitious action: to combat climate change and protect biodiversity.

Climate Change and Biodiversity

Climate Change and biodiversity protection are crucial to Colombia. Although we only represent 0.6% of global CO2 emissions, we are amongst the most affected countries by the effects of Climate Change. In December 2020, we published our updated enhanced NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution); and under the Paris Agreement, we committed to a 51% Greenhouse Gas Emission reduction for 2030 and we included a goal for black carbon. This put us on the right path to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.

We are consolidating our work in areas where technology and investment have a notable impact, such as environmental conservation, electric mobility, nature-based solutions, sustainable agriculture, responsible mining and coexistence, among others. It is also of note that Colombia is a leader in energy transition in the region, and we have created the first regional policy on circular economy to lead strategies on Bio-cities.

These commitments will require an enormous effort related to means of implementation, financially, in capacity building and in technology, in a time where Colombia has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic consequences that came with it.  Although reactivation measures are all beneficial to Colombia´s necessities, the efforts we are making on economic recovery will be relying not only on in-country collection of resources but on international debt, foreign investment, supply chains and logistics stability to increase our exports, and that’s without mentioning tourism reactivation.

Tourism

Despite the complex situation COVID 19 represents for the tourism sector, Colombia has been promoting tours and travel plans in the Chinese market, which is the main source of tourists from Asia to our country. We have set the goal of tripling the number of annual travelers from China to Colombia by 2030, as well as increasing the length of their stay and the awareness and recognition of Colombia in China as a top destination to consider in Latin America.

Colombia, like China, is a megadiverse country. We offer traveling alternatives along six different macro-regions where people can experience a variety of nature and outdoor plans and activities. For those who like to mix it up, cities like Bogota, Cartagena or Medellin offer unparalleled gastronomic experiences, haute couture boutiques where one can appreciate Colombian fashion design of clothes and accessories as well as precious gems and jewelry, and rich cultural and historic places like the Gold Museum, Walled City of Cartagena, and the Coffee Triangle where anyone can learn about the culture and the heritage surrounding the growing of the best coffee in the world.

Colombia is – The Most Welcoming Country in the World – and we believe everyone can have an unforgettable experience there. Even though it is hard to tell when will the pandemic be over, people already know where they want to go once international travel becomes more flexible, and we are working to put Colombia in the map of international travelers.

Education and City Twinnig

Colombia, like China are not only to be considered as travel destinations. Every day, more Colombians decide to study in China and more Chinese students also go to Colombia. Consequently, both governments have committed to exchanges and providing short, middle, and long-term scholarships. Additionally, both countries are making efforts to reduce language barriers through language programs directed to government officials and the establishment of multiple Confucius Institutes in Colombia. Likewise, many universities conduct their own exchanges for joint studies to enhance a multicultural environment that fosters mutual understanding.

Finally, both countries have been promoting the twinning of several cities and provinces to ensure that exchanges at all levels are happening and, in turn, creating a space that will guarantee the continuation of good relations moving forward. These twinning aims to connect regions with demographic and economic compatibilities and capacities to add value to the bilateral relations between our countries. All initiatives to create new and dynamic synergies are welcomed.

In a recent interview made to our President, Ivan Duque, by China Global Television Network in early 2022, he confidently stated that China and Colombia relations are currently at their highest peak. We believe that the friendship between our two countries is bound to consistently achieve higher goals for the benefit of all our people.

2022年是哥伦比亚共和国与中华人民共和国建交42周年。四十多年来，我们两国关系实现了平稳发展，高层交往频繁，交流密切，合作领域日益增强且多元化，实现了共同目标与成果。

多年来，两国人民和政府之间密切的对话和联系激发并加深了我们的相互了解。2019年伊万·杜克总统对中国进行了国事访问，这是哥中关系历史上最受瞩目的一次访问。伊万·杜克总统和习近平主席提出了推动我们两国关系在未来几十年协调一致发展的路线图。继此访后，双方于2021年春季又通过电话探讨并维护了两国交往的良好发展势头。

然而，过去两年的疫情对全人类影响深远。尽管我们在疫情中面临着复杂的环境，但我们两国合作的局面只会越来越强大，这也使我们对未来拥有更加一致和成熟的看法。
也就是说，我们双边的努力并非局限于一两个领域，因为我们已经深化了友谊，寻求建立一种战略伙伴关系，囊括投融资、商业、旅游、农业、科学、卫生和技术、教育、体育和文化等方面。当然还有两国人民之间的交流，这是任何关系的基础。在诸多努力中，我们的外交部与投资、贸易和旅游促进机构——哥伦比亚贸易投资旅游局密切合作，以实现我们的宏伟目标。

⬆ 从圣费利佩城堡观看卡塔赫纳

投资

在过去50年中，哥伦比亚的经济年均增长率达 6.9%（2021年为10.2%），同时我国是该地区第四大经济体。基于稳健的金融体系和独立且一贯的货币政策，我们拥有最佳的中期增长预期，我们正在并将继续致力于为所有行业的所有企业提供一个稳定的环境。

此外，我国是一个拥有5000万人口的有吸引力的市场，在拉丁美洲排名第三，中产阶级不断壮大，购买力持续增强，对产品和服务的需求激增。我们还提供与60多个国家（总人口达15亿）的商业协议网络，所有这些国家都与我国通过空中和海上连接。这为将更多的生产性和制造业公司迁移至我国，服务于我国和其它临近目标市场提供了机会。

哥伦比亚是对外国直接投资最友好的国家之一，目前在全球外国直接投资接受国中排名第30位，通过位于战略位置的自由贸易区和各种税收优惠和利好，我们为投资人提供了大量激励措施。我们通过政府和社会资本合作（PPP）模式为投资制定了一个组织良好的制度框架。该模式保证了长期预算规划，在各类实体的预算范围内促进基础设施的供给和维护。它还有助于促进决策透明，确保合理的项目结构，包含研究、风险分析、经济评估和承包模式的合理性。此外，该模式还能确保切合实际的价格，无需提前付款，而是根据服务的履行和可用性进行付款。

哥伦比亚发展 PPP项目的能力在拉丁美洲和加勒比地区排名第二，并在此类法规的质量方面在地区领先。此外，在世界银行报告《以政府和社会资本合作采购基础设施-2018》中，哥伦比亚是全球名列第三的以最有效PPP 项目开发基础设施的国家，仅次于英国和澳大利亚。

众所周知，哥伦比亚目前最有意义的基础设施项目是由中国公司兴建和经营，我们鼓励并欢迎中国企业参与即将到来的交通和能源等多个领域的招标程序和项目。

哥伦比亚政府致力于国家的改造，并推出了一项覆盖至2035年的多式联运总体规划，以改善道路、机场、港口以及能源、天然气和供水设施。在这方面，综合项目总金额约 60亿美元，用于31个机场的修复、扩建和现代化改造。另一方面，我们正在执行一项投资16 亿美元，由13个河流项目组成的河流计划，另投入4.33亿美元用于维护港口基础设施。

在道路方面，现存项目价值约600亿美元，新建公路7000公里，双车道公路1370公里，隧道141条，高架桥1300座，将投入超34亿美元修复约2000公里的铁路网。为实现这些目标并促进就业和经济复苏，第一批 5G通讯项目正在进行中，超过 14 项举措共创造约 635,000个就业机会。这些发展计划有两个基本方向：完成对外贸易的关键走廊和将我国从北到南以多式联运连接起来。同样，5G项目是哥伦比亚致力于可持续发展的主流，环境、社会、融资和制度是其规划和执行的核心。

商业

在贸易方面，双边贸易额使中国已成为我们的第二大贸易伙伴和第一大进口来源地。2021 年哥伦比亚对中国的出口额为 39 亿美元，比 2020 年增长 27%。这些出口主要来自采矿和能源领域，但我们的非采矿和附加值产品出口（目前约占对华出口总额的5%）正在上升，从2020年至2021年增长了52%。我们将继续逐年保持这种上升趋势。

因此，哥伦比亚产品和副产品在中国市场的占有率有所增加，例如鳄梨、最优质的咖啡、果肉、鲜花、巧克力和其他糖果、酒类和其他饮料以及泳装、女士内衣和服装、皮革制品和时尚配饰、服装和珠宝。此外，中国进口商和分销商对哥伦比亚热带水果及高档牛肉和猪肉兴趣浓厚，这些产品由于符合技术和卫生措施等条件，且2019年中国已承诺，预计很快就会取得市场准入。

中国企业的兴趣是加快两国贸易的关键，不仅如此，我国的企业也同样对中国市场和消费者有了更全面的了解。2021年哥伦比亚参加了上海第四届进博会，并设有农业企业展台，这是我们连续参展的第三年。更重要的是，我们使用和参与中国所有可用的渠道、贸易展览和专业展览会，并组织不同的活动，如网络研讨会、培训计划、促销活动、论坛等，以使我们的商品更接近中国市场。

我们也意识到世界经济的表现及其当前被数字化所渗透的消费动态，尤其是在中国，为跨境电子商务带来了新的机遇，从而降低了进入中国市场的成本，并激励了客户、公司和产品的多样化, 且无需实体化存在。我们的推广机构已将这一即将成为主导的细分市场作为优先事项，并一直积极为进入中国市场并挖掘其巨大潜力提供指导和培训机会，帮助企业适应电子商务在中国的需求。越来越多的哥伦比亚产品在中国不同的在线渠道亮相、销售。

从商业上讲，我们知道中国是第二大消费市场，很可能是最大的商品贸易国，并且正在成为世界上最大的零售商。我们的公司在不断努力适应这一市场，并在提高存在感的同时，为能够在中国的货架上展示他们的产品感到自豪和高兴。

疫情

我们双边议程的另一项重要内容是我们在应对全球新冠大流行中得到了中国的支持。我们的主要目标是实现疫苗高接种率，以实现新冠导致衰退后的经济复苏和稳定。迄今为止，在我国接种的超2700万剂疫苗来自中国。这帮助我们推进了国家疫苗接种计划，覆盖至少70% 的人口。

2021年，习近平主席向哥伦比亚发送了一段视频讲话，表达了中国在这一艰难时期对哥伦比亚的支持，强调了就疫情和疫苗接种开展合作的重要性。自新冠大流行发生以来，双方情感相通，守望相助，展现了团结互助的深厚友谊。

哥伦比亚等许多新兴经济体为争取复苏，不得不增加债务和赤字，以保证卫生、社会和财政稳定。经过不懈努力，我的国家通过了最重要的资金和资源征收财政改革，取得了相当于国内生产总值1.8%的收入，在不影响企业竞争力的情况下加强了公共财政稳定并削减了赤字。

科技

我们不仅为企业提供稳定性，而且正在构建哥伦比亚的数字化转型政策，这一工作在新冠疫情下已加速推进。在新技术、物联网、人工智能、网络安全、云计算和数据智能等诸多方面出现了一些与中国合作的机会，这些都被证明对于提高各国的发展能力，以便在私营和公共部门更好地做出决策至关重要。

为此，我们请投资者、各政府和合作伙伴注意，世界经济论坛第四次工业革命区域中心设在哥伦比亚。它要求国家向基于数据的经济体转型，以提高竞争力，提升中小企业效益，将哥伦比亚定位为农业4.0的参照国，并引领制定和实施负责任地使用技术的道德和监管框架。

我们的许多发展政策旨在通过数字技术提高社会和经济价值来应对当前挑战，来驱动生产力和可持续增长，这同样对于有效处理两个最相关且需要热切行动的问题很有必要，即应对气候变化和保护生物多样性。

气候变化和生物多样性

气候变化和生物多样性保护对哥伦比亚至关重要。虽然我们只占全球二氧化碳排放量的0.6%，但我们是受气候变化影响最严重的国家之一。2020年12月，我们发布了最新的强化版的国家自主贡献（NDC）目标；根据《巴黎协定》，我们承诺到2030年将温室气体排放量减少51%，其中还包含了一个黑碳排放目标。这使我们走上了在2050年实现碳中和的正轨。

我们正在加强在技术和投资方面具有显著影响领域的工作，如环境保护、电动汽车、基于自然的解决方案、可持续农业、负责任的采矿和共存等。还值得注意的是，哥伦比亚是地区能源转型的领导者，我们制定了第一个循环经济区域政策，以引领生态城市战略。

在哥伦比亚受到新冠大流行及其带来的经济后果的重创之际，这些承诺将需要在实施手段、财务、能力建设和技术方面做出巨大努力。尽管重启措施都对哥伦比亚的需求有利，但我们为经济复苏所做的努力将不仅依靠国内收集资源，还依靠国际债务、外国投资、供应链和物流稳定以增加出口，此外还有旅游业的重新激活。

旅游

尽管新冠疫情对旅游业造成了复杂的影响，但哥伦比亚一直在中国市场推广旅游和旅行计划，中国是亚洲到我国的游客的主要来源。我们已设定目标，到2030年将每年从中国到哥伦比亚的旅客人数增加两倍，增加他们的停留时间，并提高哥伦比亚在中国作为拉丁美洲首选目的地的认识度和认可度。

哥伦比亚和中国一样是一个多元化的国家。我们提供六个不同大区的旅行选择，人们可以在其中体验各种自然和户外计划与活动。对于喜欢混合体验各种元素的人来说，波哥大、卡塔赫纳、麦德林等城市提供了无与伦比的美食体验和高级时装精品店，人们可以在那里欣赏哥伦比亚时装和配饰设计、宝石和珠宝，以及丰富的文化和历史景点，像黄金博物馆、 卡塔赫纳老城和咖啡三角区，所有人都可以在这里了解世界上最好的咖啡种植过程中的文化和遗产。

哥伦比亚是世界上最热情欢迎来客的国家。我们相信每位游客都可以在那里拥有难忘的经历。尽管很难预测新冠疫情何时会结束，一旦国际旅行变得更加灵活，人们就会知道自己想去哪里，我们正在努力将哥伦比亚纳入国际旅行者的地图。

教育和姊妹城市

哥伦比亚和中国一样，都不只是被当作旅游目的地。越来越多的哥伦比亚人决定到中国学习，越来越多的中国学生也前往哥伦比亚学习。因此，两国政府都致力于交流并提供短期、中期和长期奖学金。此外，两国都在努力通过针对政府官员设置语言项目以及在哥伦比亚建立多所孔子学院来减少语言壁垒。同样，许多大学也开展了自己的联合研究交流，以促进培育一种有利于相互理解的多元文化环境。

最后，两国一直在推动多个城市和省份的结对，保证各层级交往持续进行，进而创造一个确保良好关系继续向前发展的空间。这些结对旨在将具有人口和经济相容性较强的地区联系起来，为我们两国之间的双边关系增加价值。我们对所有旨在创造新的动态协同效应的举措表示欢迎。

2022年初，我国总统伊万·杜克接受中国环球电视网（CGTN）的采访时自信地表示，哥中关系当前正处于前所未有的高度。我们相信，两国友谊必将不断实现更高目标，造福两国人民。