President Shimon Peres on Monday morning (10 June 2013), at his Jerusalem residence, hosted an official state welcome ceremony for Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, who is visiting Israel with a delegation of senior business leaders and government ministers including the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism. 

The business leaders, including the owner of the largest tourism company in Colombia, arrived in Israel seeking investment opportunities and increased cooperation. 

 Copyright: GPO/Mark Neiman

 
President Peres and President Santos inspected an honor guard and delivered speeches at the welcome ceremony. President Peres began and welcomed the President of Colombia to Israel: 

"I welcome you here as an important and influential leader of Latin America. We know how hard it is to fight terror and how terror divides the nation. I congratulate you for finding a way to unite the country. You are a true friend of Israel and your visit in country will provide fresh impetus to the relations and cooperation in the fields of security, science, technology and agriculture. Israel will be more than happy to assist Colombia and provide any knowledge that we can to help develop the Colombian economy."

The President of Colombia thanked President Peres for his welcome and said that Colombia is facing serious challenges with respect to terror and war. He added that when looking at Israel he knows the way to economic stability is through a strong economy and innovation. He concluded that he was in Israel on behalf of the 47 million citizens of Colombia who wished to express their deep sense of friendship to Israel.

Following the meeting between the two presidents a ceremony took place during which three new agreements between Israel and Colombia were signed – a free trade agreement, an innovation agreement and an aviation agreement. 

Minister of Trade, Industry and Labor Bennett and Colombian President Santos sign trade agreement (Copyright: GPO/Mark Neiman)