Taking place after four years, consultations were held in an atmosphere reflecting the cordial nature of bilateral relations

India and Colombia on Friday held their 9th Foreign Office Consultations and comprehensively reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations.

They underscored the need to intensify dialogue in the area of trade and economy, agriculture, space, energy, tourism, health and pharmaceuticals.

Taking place after four years, the consultations were held in an atmosphere reflecting the cordial nature of the bilateral relations and provided an opportunity to comprehensively review the whole gamut of bilateral cooperation, including political, trade and economic cooperation, agriculture, space, energy, health and pharmaceuticals, tourism, information technology, education, development partnership, sports and culture.

The two sides also discussed respective national strategies to counter and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and possible areas of cooperation in exchange of best practices, management strategies and medical research.

The two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest including cooperation in the United Nations and agreed to work closely with each other on multilateral issues of interest.

At the meeting, while the Indian side was led by Riva Ganguly Das, Secretary East in the Ministry of External Affairs, the Colombian side was led by Francisco Javier Echeverri, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia.