Colombia and Jamaica exploring collaboration on bilateral trade

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, the Hon. Audley Shaw, has signalled his commitment to explore the possibilities of pursuing cooperation with the Government of Colombia in several areas of trade and, in particular, assistance with the export of spices to Colombia.
The Minister exchanged ideas on the matter with Colombian Ambassador to Jamaica, Her Excellency Diana Aguilar Pulido, during a courtesy call at his Ministry’s New Kingston Offices on Wednesday, July 29, 2020.
Mr Shaw informed that Jamaica and Colombia have enjoyed long-standing trade relations at the bilateral level, and in 2019, Colombia was Jamaica’s third-largest import trading partner, with total imports valuing US$329,489 million.
“Jamaica is interested in exploring avenues for improving the trade balance between our countries, starting with the facilitation of reciprocal trade missions and trade fairs as the global pandemic allows. We have to look at how we are going to improve on our relationship,” Minister Shaw said.
In addition to bilateral trade, the minister and the ambassador also exchanged thoughts and ideas on a number of other issues, including expanding preferential market access into Colombia, and are actively engaged in preliminary market expansion discussions at the regional (CARICOM) level ahead of the convening of the Seventh Meeting of the CARICOM-Colombia Joint Council on Trade, Economic and Business Corporation.
For her part, Ambassador Pulido asked that the Agriculture Ministry prepare “an agreed process for cooperation and support” on trade between Jamaica and her country. To this end, the Ministry is to have further discussions with the embassy.
She noted that Jamaica and Colombia are competitors in a number of industries, including coffee, sugar, bananas, dairy and rice. However, the Ambassador was keen on making the point that the enhanced cooperation between the two countries will be based on complementarity and not competition.
“It is therefore important to get an appreciation of Colombia’s insight into the potential opportunity to generate strategic alliances and linkages between Jamaica and Colombia,” Ambassador Pulido said.
The Ambassador was accompanied by Second Secretary of Foreign Relations, Embassy of the Republic of Colombia, Andrés Rodríguez Durán.