“In the present day, I’m proud to announce that I intend to designate Colombia as main non-NATO ally,” Biden mentioned on the bilateral assembly. “It is a recognition of the distinctive and shut relationship between our international locations.”
Biden added that “Colombia is the lynchpin, in my opinion, to the entire hemisphere — north and south.”
As of January, there are greater than 15 nations which can be designated as main non-NATO allies to the USA, which incorporates international locations like Australia, Japan, Israel, the Philippines and, most just lately, Qatar.
Sitting throughout Biden within the Cupboard Room, Duque mentioned, “We respect loads that you’ve made the choice to designate Colombia a major non-NATO ally, as a result of that’s the recognition of the rules and values that now we have shared.”
The transfer comes as Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine upends world geopolitics and the US works to shore up its NATO defenses in Jap Europe.
Biden on Thursday thanked Duque for Colombia’s swift condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying the invasion is “not only a menace to Europe and Ukraine” however a “menace to worldwide stability.”
The 2 leaders have been additionally anticipated to debate the way forward for the US-Colombian relationship, safety cooperation, efforts to guard Colombian elections from outdoors interference and environmental considerations, in line with one official. Biden and Duque have been additionally slated to evaluate the US and Colombia’s “holistic” strategy to counternarcotics, which incorporates addressing its root causes, the official mentioned.
In the course of the public portion of the assembly, Biden mentioned, “Our hemisphere migration challenges can’t be solved by one nation or anyone border. We’ve got to work collectively.”
He referred to as on nations within the Western Hemisphere to collectively handle migration, saying the aim “is to signal a regional declaration of migration safety” when the US hosts the ninth Summit of the Americas, which is able to happen in Los Angeles this June.
The plan, Biden mentioned, “must dramatically increase entry to resettlement and different authorized pathways to authorized immigration, and it must aggressively pursue the legal smugglers and traffickers who prey on these people for revenue.”
As of June 2021, greater than 1.7 million Venezuelans had fled to Colombia, which has granted non permanent protected standing to Venezuelans within the nation.
White Home press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned final week that the assembly between Biden and Duque “supplies a possibility for the Presidents to rejoice 200 years of optimistic diplomatic relations and seek the advice of on a variety of regional and world problems with mutual curiosity, together with Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified army invasion of Ukraine, and the promotion of democracy, safety, and prosperity within the hemisphere.”
Requested about Russian affect within the Americas and disinformation, one administration official pointed to “technical help and help” the US has supplied to Colombia to defend vital infrastructure and counter misinformation efforts.
This story and its headline have been up to date with additional developments Thursday.
CNN’s Devan Cole and Allie Malloy contributed to this report.
