President Gustavo Petro arrived this Wednesday at Stockholm (Sweden), a city in which he will hold a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and where, in addition, they will discuss the process of searching for planes for the Colombian Air Force.
The news was confirmed after the arrival of the head of state’s delegation to the Swedish capital. Along with President Petro and Laura Sarabia, director of Dapre, General Luis Carlos Córdoba Avendaño also arrived. who will be in charge of addressing the topic during the official visit.
“All possibilities are being explored and precisely this trip seeks that, in a broad study, with different offers, these possibilities can be analyzed and replacement of the aircraft can be sought,” General Córdoba pointed out.
It must be remembered that, although in December 2022 President Gustavo Petro announced the preselection of the French Rafale aircraft – developed by the Dassault Aviation company – the Colombian Government was unable to close the negotiation.
In addition, it is known that the Government is evaluating the American F-16 (Viper block 70) from Lockheed Martin.
(You may be interested in: The effects on security that the President’s order not to buy weapons from Israel would have).
Last year, in a political control debate before the Second Committee of the Senate held in March of last year—in which the Swedish ambassador to Colombia, Helena Storm, was also present— Javier Mondragón, director of Capabilities and Innovation Projection of the Ministry of Defense, He assured that the Integrated National Defense System establishes the need to purchase 24 combat aircraft.
The official specified at that time that Conpes Document 4078 of 2022, which today is confidential, established an availability of 4.3 billion pesos for the purchase of the aircraft, with resources for future periods between 2024 and 2032 for 479,000 million pesos annually.
The agenda of the head of state
One of the purposes of this trip, in addition to talking about peace issues, is to present to European businessmen the advantages of investing in Colombia. The idea of the meeting is to present investment and commercial exchange opportunities, taking into account that that country sees great opportunities in Colombia, as recognized by the ambassador of that country in Bogotá, Helena Storm, in an interview with EL TIEMPO.
(Keep reading: This is the Swedish fighter plane that seeks to enter Colombia and replace the Kfir).
On Friday, the head of state will speak at the ‘Peace, Reconciliation and Human Rights’ forum, which will be held at the Swedish Defense University. The head of state’s agenda in that country will conclude with a meeting with Stefan Löfvén, the former prime minister and president of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The arrival in Switzerland is scheduled for Saturday, June 15. There, the president will participate in the Conference for Peace in Ukraine.
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