Stronger trade ties, rising investment

China and Colombia have significantly expanded economic and trade cooperation over the past 35 years through steady development of bilateral relations.

Colombia's unique geographic advantages and sound environment have helped Chinese enterprises in their bid to tap the Latin America market, while Colombia has been turning to the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, for mutual development.

The value of Sino-Colombian trade reached $15.5 billion by the end of 2014, making China the country's second-largest trading partner after the United States. Colombia is China's fifth-largest trading partner in Latin America.

Trade between China and Colombia developed rapidly since diplomatic relations were established in 1980, thanks to deepening political ties and the high degree of compatibility between the two economies.

It took 18 years for bilateral trade volume to increase from $22.07 million in 1980 to $100 million in 1998, but the figure skyrocketed to more than $10 billion in 2013. An imbalance in trade has improved greatly since 2014 as more products are included in trade.

Investment has become a new source of growth for the economic cooperation. As the only South American country with coasts on both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, Colombia has maintained a steady growth for more than 80 years.

It is also the best country in Latin America for doing business, according to a recent report by the World Bank. The country has access to a huge market with a total population of 1.5 billion due to its free trade agreements with a range of countries.

Investment from China has expanded rapidly since 2008.

By the end of 2013, China was Colombia's fourth-largest source of investment from the Asia-Pacific region as its investment hit $370 million for the year, ranking the country as China's 10th-largest investment destination in Latin America.

Chinese investment in Colombia includes industries such as telecommunications, machinery and minerals. A number of Chinese enterprises including Sinopec Group, Sinochem Group, Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp, have operations in the country.

At the same time, Colombia is gradually increasing its investment in China. Since 2001, the country's investment in China has surpassed $130 million yuan.

The steady development of economic cooperation has benefited both countries. Colombia is one of China's major markets for engineering services in Latin America, with the oil extraction and telecommunications the priorities in bilateral economic cooperation.

Since 2000, revenue from Chinese projects in Colombia have surpassed $1 billion.

The sound cooperation mechanism also contributes to accelerated development in bilateral relations. Eight joint economic and trade committees have held sessions since diplomatic relations were established. In 2008, the two countries signed an agreement on investment promotion and protection. Several cooperation memorandums on infrastructure and port construction have been signed since 2009.

In 2011, Colombia approved a bill to protect and promote trade with China. In 2012, the two countries started to study the possibility of signing a bilateral free trade agreement.

(China Daily 03/13/2015 page15)