The Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo (Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Tourism) hosted the first Foro de Reencuentro Económico CELAC–África at the Ágora Convention Center in Bogotá on March 20, 2026. The event, held as part of a broader high-level forum, aimed to strengthen commercial and investment ties between Colombia and the African continent. During the proceedings, officials identified various sectors for potential growth, including jewelry, agricultural machinery, construction materials, software, digital marketing, and food and beverages.

Minister of Trade Diana Marcela Morales Rojas stated that the forum represents a strategic shift toward trade equity and shared economic opportunities. Over the past four years, the Colombian government has sought to diversify its market reach through economic diplomacy, trade missions, and the establishment of new logistical routes to Africa. Data from 2025 indicates that these efforts have resulted in a significant increase in non-mining and non-energy exports to the continent.

“We aim for this forum to mark the beginning of a new stage: one of strategic cooperation, trade with equity, and the construction of shared opportunities.” — Diana Marcela Morales Rojas, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism.

According to ministry figures, non-mining exports to Africa reached $296.5 million USD in 2025, representing a 112% increase compared to 2024. In terms of volume, these shipments totaled 209,273 tons, a 226.8% rise over the previous year. These goods accounted for 46.6% of Colombia’s total exports to the continent, signaling a shift toward a more diversified export basket. Key products driving this growth include coffee, bananas, machinery, paper, and apparel.

The number of Colombian firms participating in this trade has also expanded. In 2025, 165 companies exported non-mining goods to Africa with values exceeding $10,000 USD, up from 145 companies in 2024. This 15.2% growth in participating firms underscores a transition toward higher value-added exports. Vice President Francia Márquez Mina noted that the economies of Latin America and Africa are complementary, offering potential for the development of new value chains and the utilization of strategic mineral reserves necessary for the global energy transition.

A central component of the forum was a business matchmaking event held on March 17 and 18. Preliminary results from the session show expected trade operations totaling $16 million USD. Nicolás Mejía, Vice President of Exports at ProColombia, characterized the results as a validation of the current market diversification plan. Since the beginning of the current administration, the government has implemented the Estrategia África 2022–2026 to strengthen socioeconomic relations with the region.

Through commercial intelligence analysis, the Colombian government has prioritized nine specific markets for its diplomatic and economic deployment: South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria. These nations serve as the primary focus for the continued implementation of the 2022–2026 strategy.

Above photo: MinCIT/Ricardo Báez.

In addition to strategic investment opportunities in Colombia, Mendoza and Tai discussed climate change, energy transition goals, sustainable investment opportunities, and the “need to safeguard the multilateral trading system,” according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism (MinCIT). The two officials also took time to prioritize reviewing policies created by technical committees in preparation for the next meeting with the U.S. Free Trade Commission.

“This visit confirms the need to think about a bold, renewed, and long-term agenda with the United States, which aims to generate greater investment with technology transfer in sectors associated with the energy transition, agro-industrialization and food sovereignty, health, defense, services, and sustainable tourism,” said Mendoza.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has committed to create a plan to invest in key sectors of Colombian business and industry that would encourage the growth of small- and medium-sized businesses in the country, create better digital and technological connectivity with the world, and push for a more sustainable energy transition for the country, according to MinCIT.

During his time in the United States, Mendoza met with José Fernández, an under secretary in the U.S. State Department, to discuss tourism and regional integration within the country. He also attended an event organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to discuss Colombian investment opportunities, reindustrialization, and tourism, among other topics, with various investors and business owners.

The Colombian minister’s trip to Washington coincided with World Trade Week, a U.S. initiative aimed at recognizing “that trade is destined to be an engine of well-being for all, uplifting workers and the business community.”

Photo: Colombian Commerce Minister German Umaña Mendoza meets with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Washington. (Credit: MinCIT)

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that states its mission as promoting policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide. It provides a forum in which member governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to the economic, social and governance challenges they face.

OECD Member countries formally invited Colombia to join the Organization in May 2018, following a five-year accession process during which it underwent in-depth reviews by 23 OECD Committees and introduced major reforms to align its legislation, policies and practices to OECD standards. These spanned the breadth of policy fields including labor issues, reform of the justice system, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, anti-bribery, trade and the establishment of a national policy on industrial chemicals and waste management.

Beyond the technical aspects, the accession process has served as a catalyst for Colombia to proceed to important reforms to improve the well-being of its citizens, such as the reduction of informality in the labor market, improving the quality and relevance of education and training as well as the long-term sustainability of the health system.

Welcoming the news, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said, “We are delighted to welcome Colombia as the 37th member of the OECD. Colombia’s accession is tangible proof of our commitment to bring together countries who strive for the highest standards in global public policy in order to improve the well-being and quality of life of their citizens. Given its recent history, Colombia can be rightly proud of what is truly an exceptional achievement.”

“The accession process has offered Colombia the opportunity to address major policy issues and challenges multilaterally and to learn from the experiences of fellow OECD countries. Engaging Colombia has also served to enrich the OECD’s knowledge and policy experience,” Mr Gurría said.

Colombia’s accession will extend the OECD’s membership to 37 countries. It will be the third Member country from the Latin America and Caribbean region to join following Mexico and Chile. A fourth, Costa Rica, is entering the final stages of its accession process to the Organization.

The OECD’s 37 members are: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Among large economies, only Chile (up 24.3%) showed a higher increase, according to a new report from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Bolivia (21.9%) and Uruguay (16.1%) also outperformed Colombia.

“After a long period of declining trade, the rise in export volumes is good news,” said Paolo Giordano, coordinator of the report and principal economist for the integration and trade Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank.

While the rise in the price of oil accounts for some of this growth, Colombia also showed improvement in overall export volumes. “Colombia and Argentina managed to increase real exports by 7% each in the first quarter, following a period of relative stagnation in 2017,” stated the IDB report.

This builds on the significant progress Colombia showed last year on export value. “Colombia recorded an export boost of 19% in 2017,” stated the report. “Almost 40% of the variation was driven by sales to Latin American and the Caribbean (24%), in particular to Panama, Bahamas, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. Foreign sales to China and the rest of Asia recorded remarkable increases of 60% and 56%, respectively, and contributed a fifth of total growth. Three quarters of the expansion were driven by sales of oil due to an increase in prices despite a stagnation of volumes.”

Still, despite the positive figures, the report notes that oil is the primary driver of growth and that growth is merely a sign of gradual recovery and not a return to the boom times from earlier this decade. “Export volumes stand a full 25% below their 2011 peak” region-wide, stated IDB.

The recovery in Colombian exports is also slowing down. Along with much of the region, it started to recover its exports late year, with 18.9% first-quarter growth in 2017 compared to the same period in 2016.

Nevertheless, further encouraging results come in the form of the location that Colombia is sending its goods and services. When breaking the numbers down by destination, Colombia had its best growth in terms of exports to the rest of the region (54.6%), which has been a focus for public officials and various stakeholders in the Andean nation and points to progress in diversifying away from an over-reliance on the U.S. as a trade partner.

This was by far the biggest intraregional increase registered by any country. Ecuador ranked second in this respect, with a 30.6% increase, and the regional average was 16.3%.

The nation also increased its trade figures with the world’s two largest economies. Colombian exports were up 19.1% to China and 8.1% to the United States.

The news wasn’t all positive, however, with a significant decline of 14.0% in exports to the European Union and a drop of 24.8% to the rest of Asia excluding China.

READ MORE: Colombian Economy Grew by 2.2% in the First Quarter of 2018

The export figures come in a quarter in which the Colombian economy grew by 2.2%. While this remains below the nation’s potential, according to economic analysts, this is above the disappointing 1.8% full-year annual growth recorded in 2017.

Economic forecasts have varied considerably on how Colombia’s economy will perform in 2018. While all major international and domestic institutions see recovery this year, uncertainty over this month’s presidential election, among other factors, have left the predictions from high-profile groups ranging from 2.3% to 3.0%.

Photo: The Port of Barranquilla, one of the key sites that facilitates Colombian exports. (Photo credit: Puerto de Barranquilla)

Santos, who is currently serving in the rotating leadership role of president protempore of the Latin American trade alliance, made the announcement earlier this month following a meeting at the Summit of the Americas that included the four heads of state of the association’s member nations — Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Peru — as well as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Photo: Heads of state met in Lima to discuss the final steps for Canada and others to become full associate members of the Pacific Alliance, including (left to right) Martín Vizcarra of Peru, Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Sebastián Piñera of Chile, Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, and Justin Trudeau of Canada. (Photo credit: Presidencia de la República)

Following the meeting with Trudeau, Santos stressed that the remaining technical hurdles should be cleared before the upcoming Pacific Alliance meeting in July that could mark the final step. “The associated countries, headed by Canada, would at that moment begin their incorporation into the Pacific Alliance,” said Santos.

Canada is one of several countries that has been working through the negotiating process to become an associate member, a goal shared by Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. All four participated in a third round of negotiations in March in Chile, discussing various elements of trade such as technical barriers, rules of origin, regulations, labor concerns, and environmental issues, according to a statement from the office of the Pacific Alliance.

Combined, Colombia totaled $516 million USD in exports to these four countries in 2016, according to the Pacific Alliance. In the same year, Mexico, which is already part of the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada, had by far the largest volume with $12.2 billion USD. Chile and Peru realized $1.4 billion USD and $2.0 billion USD, respectively.

South Korea has also expressed interest in becoming an associate member, something that would facilitate more inter-regional trade with Asia and further expand “Pacific” definition of the seven-year-old trade bloc. Santos noted that the group’s leadership has already decided to incorporate South Korea, which he said has “strongly requested” to join the group, into future negotiations that would lead to an associate membership.

In addition to Santos and Trudeau, the group leadership that met in Lima during the Summit of the Americas included President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, President Sebastián Piñera of Chile, and President Martín Vizcarra of Peru.

“The Pacific Alliance is a good free trade agreement that has had tremendous success and that represents great opportunities for the four countries,” said Trudeau. “Trade is advancing and expanding.”

Steven Ciobo, the minister of trade, tourism, and investment for Australia, reflected a similar sentiment in March after the last round of negotiations and stressed the potential that drafting a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Pacific Alliance presents for his country, as reported by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.

“The Pacific Alliance trading bloc remains an under-explored market for Australian exporters,” said Ciobo, “and Australia’s competitive access to the economies in this bloc has been limited by high tariffs and barriers … A comprehensive and high-quality FTA will open the door to new and rapidly growing markets for Australian businesses, putting exporters on the same footing with the United States, the European Union, and Canada, who all have FTAs that give them preferential access.”