BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was in Bogotá, Colombia for the Concordia Americas Summit, a gathering of government and private sector leaders held to discuss a range of issues impacting Colombia and the broader Latin American region. Secretary Perry addressed the Summit about the desire of the Trump Administration to expand energy partnerships in this region and the impact of energy security on the overall security and prosperity of Colombia, the Americas and the world.

While in Bogotá, Secretary Perry also had the opportunity to hold productive bilateral meetings with Latin American government leaders including: Colombian President Ivan Duque; Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy Maria Suarez; Venezuelan Ambassador to Colombia, Humberto Calderon Berti; and Brazilian Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro.

  • Colombia: Secretary Perry reiterated to President Duque and Minister Suarez the desire of the United States to reinvigorate our energy partnership with Colombia. To that end, in the presence of President Duque, Secretary Perry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Minister Suarez that outlines a clear path forward towards that goal. The MOU lays out concrete, actionable steps our two nations can take to collaborate on a host of issues including: improving the coverage and quality of electricity; strengthening Colombia’s pipeline and electricity distribution system’s resilience and reliability; energy storage, cyber security, including public-private partnerships on best practices in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and much more.

  • Venezuela: During his meeting with Ambassador Calderon Berti, Secretary Perry reemphasized that the United States stands with Interim President Juan Guaido and the people of Venezuela during this crisis and will continue to offer assistance in any way that we can. The two leaders discussed ways in which the U.S. can assist in efforts to restore electricity and rebuild the energy sector in a post-Maduro Venezuela.

  • Brazil:  Secretary Perry’s meeting with Eduardo Bolsonaro built on President Trump’s meeting with Brazilian President Bolsonaro where they announced the creation of the new U.S.-Brazil Energy Forum. Under this new bilateral framework, DOE and Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy will work together with their respective interagency partners and the private sector to implement changes that will mutually benefit the energy sector in the United States and Brazil.

Secretary Perry also met with private sector partners including President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Luis Alberto Moreno, and CEO of Grupo Argos, Jorge Mario Velasquez about the potential for increased Public-Private partnerships in Latin America.

For more information on Secretary Perry’s visit to Colombia, please contact Shaylyn.hynes@hq.doe.gov.

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