• World
  • Aug 08

Gustavo Petro takes oath as Colombia’s first leftist President

• Gustavo Petro became Colombia’s first leftist President after he was sworn into office on August 7.

• Gustavo Petro, a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group, won the presidential election in June by beating conservative parties. 

• The ex-rebel’s victory was exceptional for Colombia, where voters had been historically reluctant to back leftist politicians.

• A 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia turned much of the focus of voters away from the violent conflicts playing out in rural areas and gave prominence to problems like poverty and corruption, fuelling the popularity of leftist parties in national elections.

• Petro, 62, has promised to tackle Colombia’s social and economic inequalities by boosting spending on anti-poverty programs and increasing investment in rural areas.

• Petro formed alliances with environmentalists during his presidential campaign and has promised to turn Colombia into a global powerhouse for life by slowing deforestation and taking steps to reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.

• The new President has said Colombia will stop granting new licenses for oil exploration and will ban fracking projects, even though the oil industry makes up almost 50 per cent of the nation’s legal exports. 

• Petro has said he wants to start peace talks with remaining rebel groups that are currently fighting over drug routes, gold mines and other resources abandoned by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) after their peace deal with the government.

• He also called for a new international strategy to fight drug trafficking, saying the US-led war on drugs has failed.

India-Colombia relations

• India and Colombia established diplomatic relations on January 19, 1959

• In March 1972, Colombia opened its embassy in New Delhi. India opened its embassy in Colombia the following year. 

• Over the years, the relationship between the two countries have strengthened and diversified in all areas of mutual interest encompassing political, commercial and cultural fields. 

• Foreign Office Consultations Mechanism was established in 1995.

• A number of MoUs/agreements have been concluded between both countries over the years concerning areas such as defence cooperation, trade promotion, cooperation in science and technology, IT, tourism, etc.

• Bilateral trade between India and Colombia had been steadily growing, largely as a result of oil imports by India from Colombia. 

• India’s imports from Colombia include mineral fuels, precious stones (pearls), aluminum, zinc, wood (teak), plastic, etc. 

• India’s exports to Colombia include vehicles, cotton, pharmaceuticals, iron & steel products, chemicals, etc. 

• Indian investment in Colombia is mainly in the oil, automobile, agro-chemicals, IT and pharmaceutical sectors.

• Despite pandemic restrictions and logistical challenges, bilateral trade between India and Colombia continued to show a substantial increase over 2020-21. To strengthen economic, commercial and business links, several business events and virtual business conferences and buyer-seller meets were organised.

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