Overview
Colombia is an upper-middle income country and OECD member with a population of over 52 million.
The EU and its Member States are long-time partners of Colombia. For over three decades, peacebuilding has been the backbone of the EU’s cooperation with Colombia under the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI). The EU Trust Fund for Colombia has played a particularly important role in the relations, focusing on support to the implementation of the peace agreement between the government and FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).
Our partnership
The EU supports Colombia towards sustainable and inclusive development in line with the Global Gateway Strategy. The three main areas of the Global Gateway Investment Agenda in Colombia are: connectivity and digitalisation (with a goal to reach 85% connectivity by 2026), climate and energy, and transport. This also encompasses multi-country projects on climate finance and electro-mobility.
A multitude of EU Member States and the EIB have joined together as Team Europe to work in partnership with Colombia: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Czeck Republic Germany, Spain, Finland, France; Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden. Together, we work alongside Colombia to stimulate sustainable development and have invested a total of €106 million for the 2021-2027 period in EU funds.
The initiative on peace, covering socio-economic development, governance and the rule of law, is implemented in alignment with a rights-based and leave-no-one-behind approach, with a strong focus on the empowerment of women, youth, minority ethnic groups and ex-combatants with disabilities.
The initiative on the environment covers sustainable local development, fight against deforestation, sustainable cities and infrastructures, and sustainable finance and institutions.
Colombia also participates in various regional programmes, such as EL PACCTO (technical assistance on the fight against transnational organised crime), EUROFRONT (technical assistance on integrated border management), COPOLAD III (drugs policies), Inclusive societies (good governance, gender policies and social policies), Euroclima (environmental sustainability and climate change), and AL-INVEST Verde (support to enterprises for sustainable growth and jobs creation).
EU-Colombia partnership documents can be found in the 'Related documents' section below.
Our key initiatives
- Peace
EU and Colombian cooperation on peace combines multiple dimensions: digital connectivity, crime-fighting, and socio-economic development. Concretely, the projects they are working on include:
- Supporting Colombia’s plan to bring digital connectivity to 85% of the population by 2026.
- Developing telecommunications and digital infrastructure, especially beyond urban areas.
- Supporting peace through the EU Trust Fund for Peace for Colombia.
- Supporting the socio-economic integration of immigrants in Colombia.
- Fight against gender based violence.
- Support to transitional Justice System.
- Fighting crime by reinforcing different parts of Colombia’s penal system.
- Supporting border management and fighting human trafficking and smuggling.
- Fighting drug-related crime while reducing demand for drugs.
- Environment
Colombia and the EU are working together to fundamentally improve Colombia’s infrastructure. That means reorienting towards sustainability, creating new forms of growth and jobs for Colombians. Actions specifically include:
- Strengthening the development of Bogota’s metro system.
- Investing in major public transport services locally and nationally, like electric and biogas buses and modernised trains lines.
- Making the cocoa sector more climate-resilient and inclusive.
- Promoting leadership among Afro-Colombian and indigenous youth in sustainable territorial development and peace.
- Promoting energy efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability in the Eastern Antioquia region.
- Improving water management in the city of Pasto.
- Managing a just transition in the coal-producing regions of Cesar and Guajira.
- Developing hydropower generation.
- Improving the business climate for renewable energy and green hydrogen.
- Financing reforestation and forest regeneration projects.
- Working with the private sector to develop sustainable value chains.
- Implementing core environmental and labour standards.
