The State Secretary for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and for Spanish around the World, Susana Sumelzo, met this Wednesday in Bogotá with Daniel Ávila, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, with whom she discussed the main topics on the bilateral agenda.
The nearly 500,000 Colombians residing in Spain and 60,000 Spaniards in Colombia, along with the more than 1,000 Spanish companies that are present in Colombia, with an investment stock of 32 billion euros, are a strong asset for our strategic bilateral relationship.
During the meeting, Sumelzo reiterated Spain's commitment to the peace process in Colombia and highlighted the work carried out by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation in programs to reduce violence, advance reconciliation, and strengthen democracy.
Joint Subcommittee on Educational and Cultural Affairs
Sumelzo made a business trip to Bogotá, where she participated in the meeting of the Joint Subcommittee on Educational and Cultural Affairs, which is held within the framework of the High-Level Commission that exists between Spain and Colombia.
The meeting made it possible to explore multiple areas to strengthen our collaboration, in fields as diverse as language and literature, cultural heritage, external educational action, higher education, or the international promotion of Spanish.
Bogotá International Book Fair
As part of the work agenda in Colombia, the State Secretary for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and for Spanish around the World inaugurated the Ibero-American Meeting on University Publishing, which is held at the Bogotá International Book Fair (FILBo) 2025, where Spain is Guest of Honor and has its own pavilion.
The meeting, organised by the Directorate General for Spanish Language in the World of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation together with the Union of Spanish University Publishers (UNE) and the Association of University Presses of Latin America and the Caribbean (EULAC), brings together associations that include more than five hundred higher education publishers and research centers from the Ibero-American space. Its aim is to advance the common strategy of defending Spanish and Portuguese as global languages of knowledge, following the signing of the "Guadalajara Agreement" last November.
NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION.