Estonia and Colombia

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Estonia and Colombia

Bilateral relations

(last updated: 20.09.2010)

The Republic of Colombia recognized Estonia with Estonia’s admittance into the League of Nations on 22.09.1921. Colombia was amid the founding members of the League of Nations. Colombia was among those the most rapid to re-recognize the independence of the Republic of Estonia, notifying of it on 6 September 1991.

Estonia and Colombia established diplomatic relations on 23 March 1994. Clemencia Forero Ucros was appointed the first Ambassador of Colombia to Estonia. In the beginning the communication with Colombia took place through the embassies in Stockholm, but as of the year 2002 through Warsaw. The current ambassador Jorge Alberto Barrantes Ulloa presented his credentials in November 2007.

Agreements, bilateral meetings

On 1 May 2008 Columbia enforced visa-free travel for Estonian citizens for 180 days.

On 29 May 2004, in Guadalajara in the framework of the EU – Latin America and Caribbean Summit the meeting of Prime Minister Juhan Parts with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez took place.

On 2 February 2006, Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco was on an official visit in Estonia; in the course of the visit meetings with President Arnold Rüütel, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and Foreign Minister Urmas Paet took place.

On 26 September 2008, Estonian Foreign Minister U. Paet met with Columbian Foreign Minister Jaime BERMUDEZ Merizalde within the framework of the UN General Assembly.

Economic relations

TRADE

Estonia’s trade with Colombia is relatively modest.

Trade within the years 2004-2009 (in thousands EUR):

Year	Export	Import
2004	125.3	210.9
2005	116.3	361.1
2006	66.5	393.7
2007	48.5	141.2
2008	286	56
2009	154	15

Source: Statistical Office of Estonia

The main import articles are fish products and textiles. During the past year Estonian exports to Columbia have primarily been mineral fuels and plastic products.

Culture

Several works of Gabriel García Márquez (born 6 March 1928), the most well-known Colombian writer and the 1982 Nobel Prize laureate in literature, have been translated into Estonian: “One Hundred Years of Solitude" (translated by Aita Kurfeldt), “The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor” (Ruth Lias), "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (Ruth Lias), "Love in the Time of Cholera" (Marin Mõttus), "The Autumn of the Patriarch" (Ruth Lias). On 28 January 2006, there was the premiere of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” staged on the theme of his creative work at the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu.

Estonian musician and conductor Olav Roots (1910 Uderna-1974 Bogotá) was for 22 years conductor of the Columbian Symphony Orchestra.