The head of state stressed that the largest flow of tourists, it brings Colombia to Venezuela, and urged Venezuelan investors to exploit possible scenarios for tourism development.

The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said on Thursday that his counterpart in Colombia, Gustavo Petro, «knows that he counts with Venezuela and our government to make peace in Colombia», during his intervention at the second Binacional Tourist Exchange (IBT) Venezuela – Colombia.

“President Petro knows he is counting on Venezuela and our government to make peace in Colombia, but while we reach that point, let us continue building the best economic, cultural, human, diplomatic relations that have ever existed between Colombia and Venezuela.”, he said.

The President referred to the fact that the Venezuelan government acts as a facilitator of the peace process in the Colombian nation, so no journalist is allowed to ask questions about internal affairs in Colombia.

“They are internal affairs of Colombia and so it is, and so it has been and so must continue, for our relations to continue to prosper at the political, cultural, economic level,” he stressed, while noting that President Petro “is an honest man” who “has reported that plans have been uncovered against him and we have shown solidarity in a direct way”.

During his speech, the president recalled the signs of history that support the common issues between Colombia and Venezuela, mainly during the struggles to break free from the rule of the Spanish empire.

Also welcomed the willingness of both governments to re-establish bilateral relations, for the good of the peoples and urged that cross-border development with Colombia continue to be promoted, starting from building the best economic relations, cultural, human and diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“In terms of Colombian-Venezuelan tourism, in two years the tourist flow between Colombia and Venezuela has grown 46 percent, and there is an increasing investment by Colombians in Venezuela to invest in inns, hotels, lodgings,” he said.

The head of state stressed that the largest flow of tourists, it brings Colombia to Venezuela, and urged Venezuelan investors to exploit possible scenarios for Venezuelan tourism development in Colombia.

“In this sense, it is proposed to increase the number of multi-destination tourism products. I believe it is necessary to advance in the tourist products Caracas-Margarita-Táchira-Bogota; Caracas-Santa Marta-Cartagena; Caracas-Los Roques-Pereira, Medellín, among other multidestinations. Investment in tourism must be increased because it is profitable and safe,” said the head of state.

The president also assured that in two years binational trade has increased progressively, by 800 percent, which in the first months of 2024 has followed a 56 percent rate.

“Venezuela is a country that produces and also begins to export products of great quality. And Colombia, which has high quality products, is also beginning to import them into Venezuela”, he said.

The president confirmed his proposal that Venezuela and Colombia enter into an industrial economic zone of investment, production and trade, on the immense border between the Táchira and the Norte de Santander.

“We are prepared to sign, in the case of Venezuela, with our legal system. We know that there are many countries present to invest in that economic zone, many countries ready to bring technology and develop the whole area and make it a great economic zone of peace”, he added.

In this regard, he explained that the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) is working on a project to build binational tourist corridors, enhancing tourism offers in territories of the Venezuelan Andes such as Mérida and Táchira.

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