Gustavo Petro held a meeting with the delegation sent by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, to establish the first official contacts between the incoming government and the White House. The main issue among Petro’s concerns was peace, an issue that the president has said will be the priority of his foreign relations strategy.
In the words of the elected president, an agenda was built between Colombia and the United States “contemporaneous with the current problems and with a common construction trying to be effective in overcoming the problems we have.”
Petro described the meeting as a “positive meeting that demonstrates the interest that today exists in the United States government on Latin America and Colombia. Above all, an interest that is built through common work”.
Jonathan Finer, the principal deputy secretary of national security of the United States, assured that “the Biden administration is committed to strengthening this relationship (…) It has been a very productive conversation and we will continue to work with the president-elect and his team, including the vice president-elect.”
Meanwhile, one of the concerns that the White House it is security in the Western Hemisphere, an issue that the delegation sent by the Democratic administration brought to the agenda.
Other issues that were addressed were cooperation for the recovery of the economy, common security, anti-drug policy and democracy, migration management and environmental protection in the midst of climate crisis. This last matter articulates the two governments for the binational interest in the energy transition.
The date between Gustavo Petro and Joe Biden’s delegation It consisted of two stages. The first was a bilateral meeting between the president-elect and Finer. Then, an expanded meeting was held between the Colombian delegations.
