MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lacalle arrives in Colombia to meet Duque but not Petro

Luis Lacalle Pou will not be meeting President-elect Gustavo Petro, who is off to Europe on a short holiday before taking office next month

Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Pou landed late Thursday local time at Bogotá's Eldorado international airport, where he was welcomed by Deputy Foreign Minister Francisco Echeverri.

”The Uruguayan president will participate in a meeting of heads of state in Cartagena (de Indias) with President Iván Duque, and the vice president and foreign minister, Marta Lucía Ramírez, to strengthen the economic and trade relationship and sign agreements for the benefit of both countries,” Colombia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the Uruguayan President's visit, both heads of state are to sign a bilateral deal on which the two countries have been working for quite a while, it was also reported.

Lacalle had already expressed his intention to meet with President-elec Gustavo Petro, who will take office on August 7 but that was not possible due to agenda problems on the part of the Colombian leader.

The Uruguayan head of state had last traveled abroad in May, when he went to Asunción for a series of bilateral engagements with Paraguayan authorities, but he was forced to cancel his on-site participation at the IX Summit of the Americas early in June after testing positive for COVID-19.

Petro was not available to meet with Lacalle after leaving for Europe Friday together with his wife Verónica Alcacer and their children. He is due to visit Spain, Italy, and France.

Colombian serving Presidents are Vice-Presidents are banned by law from taking any vacation. A bill submitted in 2013 providing for a 15-day break failed to pass through Congress.