Bogotá: India and Colombia have held a series of diplomatic meetings to explore ways to strengthen cooperation across multilateral issues, trade, education, health, culture, and judicial affairs.
India's Ambassador to Colombia, Vinod Bahade, met Colombia's Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs, Daniella Restrepo Duarte, to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries on multilateral issues of mutual interest, the Indian Embassy in Colombia said.
“Ambassador Vinod Bahade met Daniella Restrepo Duarte, Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia. The two sides exchanged views on strengthening India-Colombia cooperation on multilateral issues of mutual interest, reaffirming the shared commitment to closer engagement, constructive dialogue and collaboration at international and multilateral forums,” the Embassy stated on social media platform X on Thursday.
The diplomatic mission added that both countries looked forward to further strengthening their partnership and working together on shared priorities and global challenges.
Earlier on Thursday, India's Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita met Colombia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Omar Bula Escobar on the sidelines of the 30th Ibero-American Summit in Madrid. Discussions focused on strengthening cooperation in trade, education, health, culture and multilateral fora.
Following the meeting, Margherita shared details of the interaction on X, saying it had focused on expanding cooperation across these sectors.
Continuing the diplomatic engagements on Wednesday, Ambassador Bahade met Colombia's Justice Minister Ivan Alfonso Cancino Gonzalez to explore ways to deepen bilateral cooperation on judicial and legal matters.
The Embassy said discussions covered technological collaboration in the judicial sector, capacity building and the exchange of expertise. Both sides also explored opportunities to strengthen institutional ties and expand cooperation between the two countries.
According to India's Ministry of External Affairs, India and Colombia share friendly and cordial bilateral relations. The partnership has expanded and diversified over the decades across political, commercial and cultural areas of mutual interest.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on January 19, 1959. They marked 60 years of formal ties in 2019.
India and Colombia have also concluded several memoranda of understanding and formal agreements covering trade promotion, scientific and technological cooperation, defence, information technology, tourism, space exploration, health, traditional medicine systems, and culture.
