Last updated in March 2010
Political relations
Germany and Colombia have long enjoyed friendly relations thanks to immigration, the settlement in Colombia of German companies, cultural institutions and extensive development cooperation.
Colombia values the critical but fair position taken by Germany in the discussion on the country’s difficult human rights situation.
German support within the framework of the International Coffee Agreement, for extending EU trade preferences and opening up the European market to imports of bananas from non-ACP countries is equally conducive to good relations as the German Federal Government’s support for negotiations on a free trade agreement with the EU. The marked intensification of high-level visits in both directions since 2007 (the visits to Colombia by the German Federal President in March 2007, by the Federal Chancellor in May 2008 and by the German Bundesrat President in October 2008 as well as the visit to Berlin by Colombian President Uribe in January 2009 and the visit to Colombia by Federal Education and Research Minister Schavan in March 2009) is an indicator of how close relations are between the two countries.
Economic relations / Development cooperation
Germany is Colombia’s principal trading partner in the EU. In recent years, there has been a marked growth in bilateral trade. In 2008, German imports from Colombia were worth approximately EUR 1.1 billion and German exports to Colombia amounted to approximately USD 1.6 billion.
A number of major German companies have their own production facilities in Colombia.
The principal economic and development cooperation agreements in place between Colombia and Germany are:
the Trade Agreement of 9 November 1957
the Basic Agreement regarding Technical Cooperation of 26 May 1998 (amending the Agreement of 1965)
the Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation on profits derived from the operation of ships and aircraft of 10 September 1968
various Financial Cooperation agreements since 1965
The German Federal Government is currently engaged in negotiations with the Colombian side on an investment protection and a double taxation agreement.
At the intergovernmental negotiations on development cooperation in December 2005, it was agreed to give priority to peace development and crisis prevention.
New commitments in Technical and Financial Cooperation for the three-year period 2007-2010 are EUR 11 million and EUR 7 million, respectively. In addition, considerable German public funds flow through private development cooperation organizations (e.g. churches, political foundations, scholarships, secondment of experts). Up to 2008, Germany provided a total of EUR 495 million in (bilateral) economic cooperation.
On top of this, significant German development cooperation funds also reach Colombia through the multilateral institutions active in the country (EU, United Nations and its specialized agencies).
Cultural relations
Cultural relations are strongly driven by partnerships between universities, academic exchanges between researchers and lecturers and cooperation under scholarship programmes. Relations in the scientific and research sectors are to be further intensified as part of the Federal Government’s Strategy for the Internationalization of Science and Research.With funding from the Federal Foreign Office, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has recently begun promoting an excellence initiative in the area of marine biology, under which five Columbian and three German universities are engaged in cooperation. The DAAD is also doing highly successful work in Colombia to promote student and academic exchange. In recent years, the number of Colombians studying in Germany has steadily grown and is, relative to Colombia’s population, larger than that of students from other Latin American countries. Conversely, there are a growing number of German academics and researchers working in Colombia, which has some very good universities and research institutions.
In late 1989,a DAAD-funded lectureship in German was established at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá, and this has attracted a constantly growing number of students. A lectureship in Mathematics at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla has been in place since 1991. In 2002, a framework agreement was concluded between the Association of Colombian Universities and the German Conference of Rectors and Presidents of Universities and other Higher Education Institutions.
Support is provided by the former scholars associations active in Colombia, ASPREA in Bogotá and ASPA in Medellín, with which German companies maintain links for recruitment purposes. There are German-Colombian cultural institutes in Cartagena, Cali and Medellín, which receive assistance from the Federal Foreign Office for cultural events.
The Goethe Institute in Bogotá has been in existence since 1957. With its language and cultural work, it plays an important role in shaping the positive image most Colombians have of Germany. Outside the capital Bogotá, cultural associations – some of them funded by the Goethe Institute – make a valuable contribution to spreading German culture and promoting cultural relations between Germany and Colombia, in particular in Cali (with a Goethe Institute lectureship), Cartagena, ,Medellín, Manizales and Pereira.
The Colegio Andino in Bogotá (with some 1,670 pupils) and the three other German Schools in Cali (780 pupils), Medellín (1,125 pupils) and Barranquilla (875 pupils) have an excellent reputation. In 2009, the Colegio Andino was one of three German Schools abroad to be singled out for preferential treatment under the Schools: Partners for the Future initiative (PASCH).
