BEIJING: Colombian Ambassador to China Luis Diego Monsalve said Colombia welcomes Chinese investments, especially for the country’s infrastructure construction.
Monsalve said China and Colombia have deepened cooperation in multiple areas since President Xi Jinping met with his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque in Beijing in July 2019.
At the China Green Companies Summit held in Haikou at the end of September, Monsalve told CGTN, “Hainan is and will come more like a door, an opening door for the rest of the world coming to China.”
His comments came after the Chinese central government announced in June an overall plan to build the island into a free-trade port with more favorable taxation policies.
Later in August, the local government issued a guidebook for investment in the free-trade port, which is also available in English. Monsalve noticed that Hainan has a very developed tourism industry, which attracts visitors from all around the world. He believed that the free-trade port in Hainan provides “a big opportunity to start exchanging products and services.”
China and Colombia maintain close economic ties. China is Colombia’s second-largest trade partner while Colombia is China’s fifth-largest trade partner in Latin America. Official data shows that bilateral trade volume amounted to $15.6 billion in 2019, up by 6.8 percent from the preceding year.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN exchange item
