Venezuela discusses trade, border with Colombia in first post-Maduro bilateral meeting

• Summary

• Ministers discuss border security and trade cooperation

• First bilateral in-person meeting since Maduro’s ouster

• Venezuela plans to repair pipeline for gas exports to Colombia

• Presidents postpone own meeting due to ‘force majeure’

CARACAS/BOGOTA, March 13 (Reuters) - High-level Colombian officials, including the foreign and defense ministers, met with their Venezuelan counterparts ‌in Caracas on Friday to discuss energy cooperation, security and trade, the Venezuelan government said.

It was the first in-person meeting between the two neighboring South American countries since the ousting in early January of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

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Originally, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez had been slated to meet ​with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in what would have been her first presidential-level bilateral meeting, but that was canceled due ​to what the governments said was “force majeure,” without elaborating.

In Caracas, Colombian defense minister Pedro Sanchez met ⁠with his counterpart Vladimir Padrino to coordinate security strategies for the shared 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border, while foreign ministers Rosa Villavicencio of Colombia ​and Yvan Gil of Venezuela were working on plans to “prioritize brotherhood and peaceful coexistence,” Rodriguez’s office said in a statement.

Trade officials ​were discussing commerce and tourism, the statement added, while energy officials including Colombian energy minister Edwin Palma were focused on a project announced earlier this week between state oil companies Ecopetrol and PDVSA to repair a damaged section of a binational pipeline that will allow Bogota to import natural gas ​from its neighbor.

Rodriguez, formerly vice president, has been seeking to attract investors in oil and mining as she attempts to stabilize the country ​since the capture of Maduro by U.S. forces. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly praised her, and she has welcomed U.S. officials and ‌potential investors ⁠to Caracas. The U.S. and Venezuela have also formally re-established diplomatic ties.

Petro, who had a cordial relationship with Maduro, has had numerous squabbles with Trump, though the two men were each positive after a face-to-face meeting in Washington last month and had a friendly call on Thursday, according to Petro’s office, during which they discussed the economy along the Venezuela-Colombian border.

Trump has repeatedly demanded more ​cooperation from Colombia in the fight ​against drug trafficking. Petro ⁠says there have been record drug seizures during his tenure.

VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS IN COLOMBIA

Colombia and Venezuela have deep historical and cultural ties, especially in border areas where many families are bi-national. Nearly 3 ​million Venezuelan migrants have settled in Colombia in recent years, fleeing economic collapse in their home ​country.

Colombia recorded a ⁠trade surplus with Venezuela of $973.4 million in 2025, exporting goods like food, tobacco, chemicals, plastics and machinery, according to Colombian statistics agency DANE. Imports from Venezuela totaled $98.3 million and included iron and steel, fertilizer and paper.

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA will carry out the ⁠repairs on ​the Antonio Ricaurte gas pipeline, which has been inactive for years, Colombia’s energy ​ministry said in a Thursday statement.

The pipeline stretches 225 kilometers (140 miles) and has a transport capacity of 500 million cubic feet of gas.

Reporting by Luis Jaime ​Acosta in Bogota and Vivian Sequera in Caracas, additional reporting by Nelson Bocanegra, writing by Julia Symmes Cobb, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien

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Vivian Sequera

Thomson Reuters

Vivian reports on politics and general news from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. She is interested in reporting on how Venezuela’s long economic crisis, with its rampant inflation, has affected human rights, health and the Venezuelan people, among other topics. She previously worked for the Associated Press in Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Brazil.

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Luis Jaime Acosta

Thomson Reuters

Luis Jaime has worked at Reuters for more than 30 years. While he chiefly covers Colombia’s armed conflict and the fight against drug trafficking from capital Bogotá, he also reports on politics, human rights, corruption, sports and the coffee industry, as well as companies in the energy and mining sectors. Before joining Reuters, he worked for Colombia’s Caracol Radio network for five years. Contact: +573102107084

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