“As a Afro -descendant woman, this is not a simple diplomatic act, it is an act of justice. After our ancestors and ancestors were enslaved, today a granddaughter returns here in conditions of freedom to meet again with our family (…) Today we are in the cradle of humanity, ethiopia, and this means continuing to build peace, justice and security, on a planet where every day we have a responsibility. Safeguard the house, ”said the high president.
The reopening of this diplomatic mission seeks to position Colombia as a strategic partner in Africa, expanding opportunities for political, economic, educational and cultural cooperation. Ethiopia is a regional leader and headquarters of the African Union, a key space for the Birregional Articulation with Latin America and the Caribbean. For the vice president, establishing ties brings opportunities that contribute to overcome inequalities and restore the rights of Colombians and Africans, so that the commitment is to work together from horizontality and solidarity, in areas such as sustainable rural development, higher education, cultural exchange and impulse to trade and investment.
Recent advances demonstrate the potential of this reconnection: exports from Colombia to Ethiopia went from 224 million dollars in 2022 to 2,300 million in 2024, a clear signal of dynamism and opportunities that open to expand economic alliances and diversify investment and cooperation flows. In this context, the reopening of the embassy in Adís Abeba seeks to be a catalyst to accompany and enhance this growth, offering entrepreneurs, academics and communities a space to project joint projects of greater impact.
The vice president said that the tariff crises that the world is living represents an opportunity to continue weaving how region and generate new opportunities for the people. In this regard, he indicated that Colombia, as President Pro Tempore of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), is willing to make all efforts to strengthen relations with the African union and together to strengthen us as a global south.
During this work day in Ethiopia, the first country of the official visit of the Colombian government to Africa, Márquez Mina met with the president of the Republic, Taye Atske Selassie and with the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, seeking to define a joint agenda as states and talk about the presence of Colombia as a strategic partner in the South-South Cooperation Forum.
The high president ratified the commitment to strengthen ties, recognizing the common past and projecting to the future, with emphasis on sectors with emphasis on trade and culture sectors, prioritizing the exchange between Colombia and Africa. In turn, he highlighted the importance of facilitating mobility between the two territories.
Precisely, one of the objectives is to specify an Air Services Agreement, accompanied by cooperation between the Economic Commission for the United Nations Africa (CEA) and the Ethiopian Aviation University, while working in the signing of a memorandum of academic cooperation for the mobility of students and teachers and the implementation of joint projects.
“It hurts that Latin America and the Caribbean do not have direct connections with the African continent. The routes that were the routes of enslavement must today be the routes to recognize and restore our rights. Therefore, we appreciate the joint effort we have been doing between Colombia and Ethiopia, through Ethiopian Airlines, to connect and reconnect the continents,” he added.
The Colombian delegation, which leads the vice president and of which representatives of Ministries and State Institutions are part, and a delegation of national entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, also advanced in the search for an agreement to exempted visa and a coffee cooperation route, which will include technical exchange with a rural gender and youth approach.
Both Ethiopia and Colombia are world referents in the production of high quality coffee. This exchange not only aims to strengthen value chains and agricultural innovation processes, but also to incorporate the leadership of rural women and to enhance agricultural extension with a gender and sustainability approach. Thus, it is an agreement with a scope not only economic, but also social and cultural, which can become a reference model for southern cooperation in the agricultural sector.
