Colombian to the core, Mrs. Carmenza Jaramillo became the first South American woman to serve as an ambassador in China, two decades after having been Consul General of Colombia in Hong Kong. With her usual ease, she talked to China Today about the current state of the relations between the two countries.

China Today (CT): During your investiture as ambassador to China, President Juan Manuel Santos said: “For us, China is a strategic country”. What reasons argue this statement?

Carmenza Jaramillo (CJ): Asia has always been a main objective for President Santos. He was the first Colombian Minister of Commerce and he came to Asia in 1992 with the first mission of Colombian businessmen who traveled to Japan and Hong Kong. The president has always considered Asia as a strategic region in all deals started by Colombia. After assuming the presidency of the Republic, he has payed high-level official visits to China, South Korea and Central Asia. In addition, Colombia has begun the procedures to become a member of APEC and ASEAN. President Santos intends that Colombia be considered a strategic country in Latin America. From all respects, for this government, Asia is a focal point for the development of relationships. In addition, we have to position ourselves, that is to say China needs to know what Colombia is.

(CT): Colombia was chosen as the best tourist destination for the Chinese in a contest hosted by National Geographic Traveler magazine, beating 24 nations of America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. According to Colombian migration authorities, the flow of travelers from China to the South American nation increased. Currently, how many Chinese tourists are traveling to Colombia and what are the perspectives of the country in that respect?

(CJ): During two years, I was in charge of the project “Proexport” in the United States, and there was a study about the perspectives on the behavior of Chinese tourism out of the Asian continent. It′s estimated that between 200 to 300 million Chinese nationals will have the financial means to travel. Nowadays, the Chinese are not only traveling to Hong Kong, Australia or Thailand. They are looking to Europe and Latin America. The behavior of tourism has to be viewed from the perspective that the Chinese do not only travel to one country. We are part of the Pacific Alliance and as such, we are looking for the Chinese to consider not only one country, but we’d like to present a multi-destination proposal of two or three. When I was in the United States, it was estimated that 300 million Chinese, out of 40 million, would consider traveling to Latin America. From that perspective, we believe that Colombia could be one of those destinations, if integrated into a multi-destination offer with Peru and Ecuador, Peru and Chile or Peru and Mexico. We can offer sun and beach; we can offer culture; we can show the development of the central part of the country where the coffee plantations are located. The number of tourists may seem scarce because it has only increased from 4000 to 8000 in the past four years; however, the statistic is qualitative significant since now the Chinese are looking at Colombia as a touristic destination. We have much more hopes that the Chinese consider our country as an attractive place to visit.

(CT): Recently, the program Spanish in Colombia was launched in Beijing. There came a large delegation representing several Colombian universities that participated in the 2013 China Education Expo. What is the purpose of this program? How would you assess the development of the academic exchanges between the two countries?

(CJ): We have signed an agreement of educative cooperation which states that every school year, an average of 20 Chinese can travel to Colombia in order to learn Spanish. It is regarded that the Colombian Spanish is the best due to the ways it is spoken. The aim bringing the representatives of our universities here is to favor that the Chinese counterparts consider sending undergraduate and graduate students to Colombia, not only to improve or to learn Spanish, but to teach Mandarin. There′s a large group of Colombians living in China, not only in Beijing, but also in other regions of the country where they are learning Mandarin and teaching Spanish. For the first time, we participate in this educational exhibition to show what Colombian universities could offer.

(CT): On November 9, 2013, the China-Colombia International Poetry Summit “A dragon in the valley of poetry” was held in Medellín. What artistic manifestations have witnessed a major success in the cultural exchanges between the two nations? What cultural activities are planned for 2014?

(CJ): Let’s start by saying that approaching the culture leads to education and education leads to trade. One of my purposes is to sow the seeds of Colombia, so people may know what Colombia is. Colombia is a synonym of fauna, coffee, emeralds, an excellent Spanish, kindness, salsa dance. Based on all that, in 2013, we brought to China the artistic troupe “Delirio”. We organized a film festival and we had the opportunity of bringing one of the producers who is in vogue right now: Harold Trompetero. We were able to bring a great writer, Santiago Gamboa, who had the chance to lecture in eight universities, like Trompetero, revealing our artistic production. Colombia is a major producer of soap operas. Colombia has the best salsa music in the world and the Chinese love salsa dance combined with acrobatics. So, we brought music, knowledge, films; we brought the Spanish language. What do we aim to do? We aim to bring a group of salsa again. One of the things we're thinking about is to establish a salsa school, and bring instructors to teach because the Chinese learn to dance fast. We plan to increase the visits of Colombian writers. We hope to bring writers to show that other than the Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, we have a large range of writers who want to share their experiences, and the Chinese Writers Association is ready to receive them. We hope to bring new films and new filmmakers. We would like to continue uncovering Colombia for China. We need the Chinese to get to know us, so they can confirm what we can do to construct a more positive image of our country, beyond the stigmas and stereotypes. Colombia has changed for the better.

(CT): According to some media reports, in September 2013, the China-Colombia Study Group met for the first time in order to negotiate a free trade agreement. Which is the current state of the negotiations?

(CJ): When President Santos came to China in May 2012, he talked with the Chinese counterpart about the perspectives of a free trade agreement. Presidents Santos and Hu Jintao talked about the possibility of drafting the basis of the agreement. The discussions have already been initiated, but the first meeting of the feasibility study hasn’t been held yet due to circumstances beyond the will of the two governments. I personally believe that a free trade agreement is not signed in two years. It takes a long time because there are many issues and implications to be considered. We hope that once the feasibility study is completed, we would analyze what are the chances of the free trade agreement. However, that does not stop us to keep trying to position our products. We would like Colombia to become an exporting platform for China. China is the second trading partner of Colombia, a very important one in the field of investments; but we would also like to reinforce the role of our products, and not only in mining or oil industry. We need to discuss other perspectives with products such as meat, milk, liquors, rum and confectionery. We have the best cocoa, by smell. We have to position ourselves , so Colombia could be the platform that we hope and aspire to become in the future.

(CT): How do you evaluate the current state of the relations between the two nations?

(CJ): I think we are in the best moment of our relationship. The Sino-Colombian ties are now 33 years old; however, I would say that for the first time, we are getting to know each other better because there is a common interest, and also due to the fact that Colombians are motivated to learn mandarin Chinese. When you master a foreign language, you can find the essence of the people and the country where this language is spoken. There are many Chinese who want to travel to Colombia in order to learn Spanish for approaching the Colombian culture. There are also many students who have finished college and want to go there and get a Masters’ Degree . China is experimenting several world-scale changes in the sense that it is the main trading partner for several countries or the second for others, as in the case of Colombia. It’s necessary to come here to witness what is happening in this nation. Here, one has to create those relationships in which trust is established, so new networks will grow, whether educational, commercial or cultural. This is the best moment, in the sense that we begin to get to know each other. We have started to look at ourselves with different eyes, interested in working, in order to achieve the goals we have planned for the near future. We are sowing the seeds of Colombia in China to harvest the fruits in the coming years.