The government of Abelardo De La Espriella will debut this Thursday before the highest authority of the United Nations (UN). The voice that will project the foreign policy guidelines of the so-called ‘Patria Milagro’ in the General Assembly of the multilateral organization based in New York will be that of Vice President José Manuel Restrepo.
Restrepo’s intervention is scheduled between 1 and 3 in the afternoonColombia time, after the participation of Gambia and just before that of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. President De La Espriella delegated to the vice president the first participation of his administration in the UN General Assembly, in fulfillment of his promise not to leave the country during his mandate.
“You know that I promised not to leave Colombia and I am going to keep it. For that I have a great vice president and team. He is going to read before the UN plenary session some words that will surely generate a great impact, because here it is about doing things well and raising awareness,” said the head of state before the departure of his second to the United States.
President Abelardo De La Espriella and vice president José Manuel Restrepo. Photo:Policy
Although no further details have been released about the content of the speech, This would be focused on issues such as security, the economy, new technologies and artificial intelligence, among other topics.
On the previous day, the vice president met with the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, and continued an intense agenda focused on attracting investment and strengthening international relations, with business meetings and bilateral meetings. In several of these spaces he was accompanied by Foreign Minister Omar Bula and ambassadors Mauricio Gaona and María Consuelo Araújo.
“An important meeting to strengthen our relationship with the international community and discuss the great challenges we share: growth and development, peace and security, sustainability, new technologies and more opportunities for our people,” said Restrepo about his meeting with Guterres, one of the most significant on his agenda so far and which left an official photo.
Official photo of Restrepo and Guterres. Photo:Vice Presidency.
Another of the main meetings in the prelude to the intervention was the one held with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and other Latin American leaders, in which the Shield of the Americas agreement was officially signed, a regional alliance made up of several countries with right-wing governments for the fight against drug trafficking and commercial cooperation.
“They see us as a strategic ally. They know perfectly well the importance that Colombia means and has, and what they are seeing is that President Abelardo De La Espriella is doing very well, fighting against criminal groups, demonstrating that you can act with integrity and without corruption when facing crime,” Restrepo said.
Foreign Minister Omar Bula described this Tuesday’s meeting as key, in which 14 countries signed the Shield of the Americas declaration. The chancellor highlighted that 24 organizations on the continent were classified as terrorist groups, in the Colombian case there was an inclusion of the ELN and the different dissidents of the extinct FARC.
The Chancellor, the Minister of Commerce and the Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs. Photo:Vice Presidency.
“It constitutes a first formal step to be able to coordinate in economy, trade and, above all, security,” said Foreign Minister Bula, who highlighted the importance of the country recovering security in the territory to attract trade and foreign investment.
Bula also told some details of the meeting that was held with the Ecuadorian delegation, in which the reestablishment of the binational cabinet was announced. “We have border problems that we have to solve with Ecuador,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who at the same time pointed out that there will be a meeting at the end of November to resume relations and other issues paused during Gustavo Petro’s government, including the sale of energy to the neighboring country.
Likewise, the meetings that were held with the German Chancellery were mentioned, in which transnational organized crime and the scourge that it has meant for the countries of the region were discussed.
The previous agenda
Foreign Minister Omar Bula and Vice President José Manuel Restrepo. Photo:Chancellery
Vice President Restrepo’s agenda this Wednesday in New York included outreach to the private sector and a space before one of the main foreign policy analysis centers in the United States.
Among the activities was a meeting with Microsoft, to explore investments in technology and digital infrastructure in Colombia. Later he participated in the meeting of heads of State and Government of the Santiago Commitment against Transnational Organized Crime. In the afternoon he also had meetings with the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and with Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, in her capacity as UN special counsel for Inclusive Finance.
The day concluded with a conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the main centers for foreign policy analysis in the United States.
With the Minister of Commerce, Mauricio Gómez Amín, Restrepo and his delegation sent the message to the United States and international investors and businessmen that Colombia is ready to receive investment, to generate employment and opportunities for well-being for Colombians.
“There have been days of strategic meetings and high-level conversations, and we still have an intense agenda to develop. Each meeting confirms something important: there is trust, there are opportunities and the eyes of the world are on Colombia as a destination to invest and grow,” added the senior official.
In any case, much of the country’s attention will be on the speech that Restrepo will give in the coming hours at the UN.
JUAN PABLO PENAGOS RAMÍREZ
Political Writing
