“President-elect Ivan Duque of Colombia is poised to take office in earnest at the beginning of August”

As President-elect Ivan Duque of Colombia is poised to take office in earnest at the beginning of August this year, Colombia Ambassador Juan Pablo Rodriguez Barragan also gave a new impressive image for participants including Diplomatic Corps. as well as Korean guests who attended the 208th Colombia Independence Day reception held in a downtown hotel Seoul on July 26th evening.

Alongside with traditional images about Colombia in the case of Korean peoples such as a blood alliance forged during the Korean War period, and economic FTA inked about two years ago, Barragan intended to stress cultural cooperations such as National Museum special exhibition “Golden Civilization Eldorado-in search for mysterious treasures” which will start at the beginning of August.

According to Barragan, this special exhibition introduces a total of 322 items of worldwide golden relics Colombia Golden Museum is proud of. Following its exhibition in Seoul until Oct. 28th this year, this Golden Cicilization Eldorado exhibition is continued in the National Kimhae Museum from Nov. 27th through March 3rd, 2019.

Ahead of this exhibition, Barragan said: "The Korea Foundation and the Embassies of the four Pacific Alliance countries (Chile Colombia, Mexico and Peru) presented the “2018 KF Global Cultural Bridge1”-Paciic Alliance Festival Hola!“-a multifaced cultural event that covers exhibitions, performances and film screenings, commencing on June 21 and concluding on Aug. 17, this year."

Of course, the first image about Colombia for most Koreans is a blood alliance relation because Colombia dispatched over its 5,000 soldiers during the Korean War period to Korea as a sole country among the South American countries. Mentioning that a total of 213 Colombia soldiers died and 448 soldiers were wounded, Amb. Barragan underscored that such valuable sacrifices had been a solid foundation for the Republic of Korea to enjoy today’s democracy & peace on the peninsula.

Economically, after one year and a half on the entry in force of our bilateral Free Trade Agreement in July 15th 2016 I am confident that the FTA will help to boost during the coming years Colombian exports in products such as flowers, fresh and processed fruits such as pitahaya and cacao preparations just to say a few, said Barragan. We have a wide range of agro industrial products that suit very well the Korean consumers but due to import duties their competitiveness was low something that should change in the near future thanks to this agreement, the Ambassador pointed out. Anyway, moving ahead and thanks to this FTA both economies will continue to find more synergies and increase trade relations, he expected.

Retrospecting the remarkable achievements of current Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos who will end his term soon, President Santos paved the way for a new era of living in peace after the agreement of ceasefire and hostilities with the FARC. In recognition of his excellent activities & dedication to bring peace to Colombia, President Santos received the peace Nobel Prize in 2017.

In conjuction with recent Colombia’s change, Amb. Barragan said: “Colombia used to be a country that was facing an internal conflict during the last 60 years. The Colombian Government signed and approved a Peace Agreement with the guerrilla. Therefore nowadays, the country is a safe place to visit, where you can run business or visit for tourism. Colombia is going through a historic moment in its life as an independent country. At the time of the commemoration our 208 year of the Declaration of Independence, the country prepares for a new era of living in peace after the agreement of ceasefire and hostilities with the FARC. Colombia government efforts are focusing in many areas of economic development including promotion of trade and foreign investment.”

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