The Foreign Trade Bank (BANCOEX) held on Tuesday a meeting themed “Business Competitiveness and Trends 2021” to foster business opportunities between the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Venezuelan Government and lever potentially exportable products.
The virtual meeting was attended by the Bolivian Ambassador to Venezuela, Sebastián Michel; the Director of the Chamber of Industry, Trade, Services and Tourism of Santa Cruz-Bolivia (CAINCO), Pablo Medina; the Venezuelan Ambassador to Bolivia, Alexander Yánez; the President of the Venezuelan Association of Exporters, Ramón Goyo; the Bancoex’s Vice-president of Exportation and Investment Promotion, Juan Freer; and the Bancoex’s General Manager of Trade Management, Daniela Bermúdez.
In this regard, Freer highlighted that these meetings Bancoex has organized in the last months are part of the institution’s rapprochement with different international markets to create spaces and foster foreign trade.
«This is the sixth meeting. We have had exchanges with China, Russia, Syria and other countries through commercial diplomacy. With Bolivia, we are doing it ahead of the Santa Cruz International Fair, which will take place in September, and the CAINCO’s Business Roundtable we’re promoting as we’re aware of its significance, » he underlined.
Likewise, Freer added that to boost relations between Bolivia and Venezuela, Bancoex has facilitated the necessary tools to strengthen trade, especially air commercial routes, new direct flights and tariff preferences.
Bolivia’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Sebastián Michel, thanked for the Venezuelan Government’s invitation through Bancoex, and highlighted that Venezuela and Bolivia have historical ties dating back to over 200 years, thus enabling continuity in commercial strengthening.
Noteworthily, Bolivia’s economy is based on the extraction and export of natural resources, especially gas, tourism and mining, and to a lesser degree, oil, manufacturing and food (soy, sugar and rice).
Currently, Bolivia has the world’s fourth largest mining industry after China, Indonesia and Peru, and it’s the world’s third largest producer of antimony after China and South Africa.
Finally, Bancoex said that the next meeting will be held between Venezuela and Tunisia on June 17 and it has already extended invitations to public and private institutions to participate.