The Diplomat
Colombia’s new ambassador to Spain, Luis Guillermo Plata, has been sworn in by the President of the Republic, Iván Duque, a few days before the official trip of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, to the South American country.
“Today we are sworn in Dr Luis Guillermo Plata as Colombia’s new ambassador to Spain”, Duque announced on Tuesday (early Wednesday morning in Spain) via his official Twitter account. “We entrust him, among other tasks, to work to strengthen cultural and commercial relations, and attract more investment in sectors such as tourism, ICT and renewable energy”, he added.
The new Colombian ambassador, Luis Guillermo Plata (“a man of great abilities” who led the negotiation of the free trade agreement with the European Union, according to Iván Duque), was Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism between 2007 and 2010, during the government of Álvaro Uribe, and since 21 March last year he has held, by direct appointment of the president, the position of manager for the comprehensive care of the pandemic, with the mission of coordinating the response of state agencies to the COVID-19 emergency. The new ambassador replaces Carolina Barco, who represented Colombia in Madrid for the past two years.
The inauguration of Luis Guillermo Plata came on the eve of the official trip of González Laya, who will leave today for the Andean country, where, in addition to addressing bilateral relations, he will travel to Cúcuta to learn on the ground about the situation of displaced Venezuelan refugees in Colombia.
“We are pleased to have the Spanish minister Arancha González Laya in Colombia from tomorrow for three days”, the Colombian Foreign Ministry said yesterday on Twitter. “During this official visit we will deepen bilateral relations with a robust agenda on issues of cooperation, assistance to migrants, trade and security issues”, it added.
González Laya will be received in Bogotá by Iván Duque, and by her counterpart, Claudia Blum, who met last Thursday with the new Spanish ambassador to Colombia, Marcos Gómez Martínez. During the meeting, according to the Colombian Foreign Ministry, “the excellent state of the bilateral relationship” and “the mutual interest” in enhancing this relationship “through the activation of the High Level Commission, provided for in the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation of 1992” was highlighted. The Colombian minister also thanked “the organisation of the International Donors’ Conference, led by Spain, in solidarity with Venezuelan refugees and migrants”. Marcos Gómez presented his Letters of Credence to President Duque on 28 January.
