Petro proposes clean energy 'highway' with Ecuador

Statement of the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia

• When speaking at the XI Binational Cabinet with Ecuador, the Head of State stressed that "the Americas can be found around life, and Colombia and Ecuador can be a fundamental axis in this new reality of the planet."

• “A single clean energy highway from Patagonia to the Mexican border with the United States would bring clean energy that they need, that human life demands,” said the President.

Tulcán, Ecuador, January 31, 2023.

“In America itself there is the largest sponge in the world that absorbs greenhouse gases, which is the Amazon Forest, and Colombia and Ecuador have territorial responsibility (…). If we get together we have a voice before the world, because neither more nor less are we responsible, perhaps for the third climate pillar that could allow humanity to continue on this planet. That voice has to come together to be powerful."

Thus, with these words, President Gustavo Petro invited Ecuador on Tuesday to join efforts to protect the Amazon before the world, within the framework of the XI Ecuador-Colombia Binational Cabinet, which took place in Tulcán, capital of the province of Carchi, with the participation of the Head of State of the sister country, Guillermo Lasso.

In this context, the President indicated that both Colombia and Ecuador have in their hands a “letter of immense geopolitical power that I believe we should deploy. How is it that the third climatic pillar of the planet can be taken care of, revitalized; reverse the tendencies that lead to destruction, as a contribution to life and human existence”.

Likewise, President Petro, when intervening in the installation of the XI Binational Cabinet, invited Ecuador to work together in the construction of the clean energy network to connect the Americas, from Patagonia (Argentina) to Mexico.

"There in the North (of America), due to the accumulated wealth, there is an enormous need for clean energy," said the President, who added that South America has the potential to decarbonize the economy of the United States through the sun, wind, and water. United, through a clean energy network that would go to Alaska, essential to save the human species.

A backbone of clean energy

“We have the answer if we get together. A single clean energy highway from Patagonia to the Mexican border with the United States would bring them clean energy that they need, that human life demands and that we can exchange, because we have the region with the greatest clean energy potential in the world. ”, stressed the Colombian Head of State.

Immediately afterwards, he stressed that "the Americas can be found around life, and Colombia and Ecuador can be a fundamental axis in this new reality of the planet, of geopolitics, but ultimately of life and human existence".

In his speech, President Petro also referred to the possibility that Chile, Argentina and Bolivia unite around the constitution of the "OPEC of lithium", another of the potentials that the south of the continent has for the world.

In this sense, he explained: "Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, which together have 2/3 of the world's lithium, an essential mineral for the new batteries that have to do with mobile electricity, talked about building an OPEC of the lithium; smart."

Finally, it should be noted that in the Binational Cabinet, the delegations of both countries review security and defense issues, border issues, environmental issues, social and cultural issues, economic and commercial issues, infrastructure and connectivity, and the Binational Plan for the Zone of Border Integration.