In the next few days, the governor of the border state of Táchira, Freddy Bernal, will deliver to the Venezuelan Executive a proposal so that through a Special Economic Zone, the development of the border is accelerated and in the future San Cristóbal (Venezuela) and Cúcuta (Colombia) can become a “binational metropolis”.
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“I see them as a great market,” Bernal said in an interview on a television channel in Venezuela, also indicating that the proposal is being worked on together with businessmen and parliamentarians.
Bernal affirmed that the state he leads has the potential to become “one of the main dry ports of Venezuela,” and that during his administration they have managed to boost trade and the internal economy.
“We are ready to come to Caracas to give the arguments to the national government so that it understands (…) that Táchira is going to be, in the years to come, one of the main poles of development, not only for the border, but for across the country,” the governor said.
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And he added that this proposal is aligned with the ideas put forward by the Venezuelan president, who last February, during a meeting with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, he proposed the creation of a binational commercial zone of shared development between the North of Santander and Táchira, in order to take better advantage of the potential of that region.
On that occasion, Maduro and Petro signed a commercial agreement with the aim of reaching the goal of 1.8 billion dollars in commercial operations this year, a result that, if materialized, will multiply by eight the 222 million dollars of 2020, the worst year of the bilateral relationship, but still well below the record of 7,000 million dollars reached in 2008.
ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
*With information from Efe
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