Colombia only Latin American country to shed blood for Korea
President Park Geun-hye attended a business forum in Bogota, Colombia, during her visit to South America, on April 17 last year.
At the meeting, President Park Geun-hye of Korea said, “Now it is time for bilateral cooperation between Korea and Colombia to go beyond existing areas and to encompass information and communications technology (ICT), infrastructure, the health and medical sectors, and new industries related to energy."
The forum was attended from the Colombian side President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and 500 business leaders from both nations.
President Park then stated "I hope that our bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) will take effect quickly and contribute to expanding trade between the two nations and to our economic development." Then she stated "It is very important to cooperate on electronic customs services and on electronic trade in order to overcome the large geographical distance between the two countries."
"Korea has experience in successfully building infrastructure as part of its economic growth," said President Park. She said, "As Korea has built the world`s best capacity for `smart infrastructure` powered by ICT, there is great potential for bilateral cooperation."
As an example of bilateral cooperation, President Park mentioned transportation card systems in Colombia, built by Korean companies, and a Korea-Colombia friendship center that helps the rehabilitation of Korean War veterans and other disabled veterans.
President Park also spoke on the first subway to be built in Bogota, the advanced transportation system in Medell?n and potential cooperation on the nationwide transportation network. She said that all of these will provide an opportunity to upgrade the ICT industry in the two countries.
"Bilateral cooperation on smart grids is very promising," said President Park. "If Korea can utilize its smart gird technology, which it acquired through many pilot projects and bold investments, it will be able to fully draw out potential renewable energy resources in Colombia and provide a stable electricity supply across the country."
