Colombia and Venezuela Tweak Bilateral Relations
Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco is meeting in Bogotá Friday with Foreign Minister Alí Rodríguez of Venezuela to evaluate the present and future state of affairs between the two nations.

They will also be signing the San Carlos Accord continuing the high level bi-national commission (COBAN).

COBAN is a mechanism to analyze and overcome any difficulties in bilateral relations and was set in motion February 15 by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

The Foreign Ministry release reported the COBAN discussions today will include the bi-national gas pipeline, the poly-pipeline that will connect Venezuela with the Colombian Pacific, the business macro-route and the border integration zone.

Caracas is presently one of Bogotá´s main trade partners with this year´s exchange of goods and services expected to be a record three billion dollars.

Other topics on the foreign ministers´ agenda include strengthening the Colombian-Venezuelan unification processes, moving forward on a strategy against terrorism, presenting practical solutions to handle difficulties as they come up, and signing a series of agreements.

This first COBAN meeting should conclude with a work plan for conducting such meetings, projects and bilateral programs this year.