2019 Proceedings Report

Summary of Discussion Sessions
Foreign Policy & Media
Moderator
Mrs Soraya Caicedo,
Executive Producer, SBS Radio in Spanish
Speakers
H.E. Mrs Sophie Davies,
Australian Ambassador to Colombia
Mr Stephen Loosley AM,
Senior Fellow, ASPI
Mrs Catalina Florez,
Political Reporter TEN Network
Mr Rodrigo Amaya,
Coordinator Asia-Pacific, MOFA Colombia
Mr Peter Burow, Founding Partner
NeuroPower Group
The Bilateral Agenda
This first session began by outlining the most significant aspects of the bilateral agenda between
Australia and Colombia. Among those aspects, both countries participants highlighted that law
enforcement, trade and education links are well-established and will continue to expand.
Special mention to the long presence of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Colombia, which dates
back to the early 2000s, as well as AUSTRADE’s, was made to illustrate the well-established
connections between both countries prior to the opening of the Australian Embassy. A closer look
into the bilateral relationship identified international cooperation, education and sports, mobility,
trade and the political-diplomatic engagement as the five key topics upon which the relationship is
based on.
Participants concluded that in each of those five areas Australia-Colombia relations are significantly
more robust. In particular, delegates emphasised that the opening of the Embassy in 2017 provided
both countries with a platform to deepen those pre-existing areas of engagement.
Participants noted that at the strategic level, due to the rise of China, to thrive in an increasingly
multi-polar system, the dramatic changes in Australia’s geo-strategic landscape are pushing the
government to meet multiple and simultaneous foreign policy objectives. And to do so, flexibility and
agility is therefore needed.
Ms Salud Hernández Mora,
Journalist, El Mundo (ESP)
The Australia-Colombia Dialogue | September 2019 20