The mayor, Claudia López, met this Friday with a French delegation led by the French ambassador to Colombia, Fréderic Doré, and the deputy director for Colombia of the French Development Agency (AFD), Romain André. The objective of this roundtable was to explore new opportunities for collaboration and to ratify current participation in sustainable mobility, climate action, and cultural initiatives.
“There are several very large plans that are already under development, what we are looking for now with meetings like this are opportunities aimed at the best quality, the best price, and the best experience,” said the Mayor.
During the meeting, Mayor López highlighted the progress of the various large-scale projects currently being developed by the District in collaboration with French entities. Among the initiatives mentioned was the Carrera Séptima Green Corridor, which had the contribution of 350,000 euros for the studies and technical designs together with a budget pre-approved by the AFD of 100,000 euros, aimed at Section 1 of the project.
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In this Tweet, Mayor Claudia López thanks the French ambassador, Fréderic Doré, for the support for the Bogotá that we are building and refers to the projects we are working on together:
Bogotá’s representative recognized the AFD’s work on the agreement signed with the Urban Development Institute (IDU, as per the acronym in Spanish) for the execution of feasibility studies of the aerial cable car that will connect Soacha with Bogotá. For his part, Romain André from AFD reaffirmed the agency's interest in participating in the financing of upcoming concessions in Bogotá on sustainable mobility issues.
In addition, Mayor López mentioned the development of the Waste-to-Energy Plant, the infrastructure plans on Calle 13, and the upcoming construction of the second line of the Bogotá metro.
The interests of the French delegation, as confirmed by Ambassador Doré, are mainly focused on the current sustainable development and gender equality projects, of which the Bogotá women's eco-driving program is a part. This project seeks to establish a public transport operator composed entirely of conductive and with a 100% electric fleet.
In this regard, Deputy Director André highlighted the AFD’s interest in participating in the program launch. “This sounds seems like a really extraordinary project to us; it’s fighting one of the biggest stereotypes that is sexism at the wheel,” he emphasized.
Within the meeting, opportunities for educational exchange were also discussed. The French delegation expressed interest in the possibility of consolidating an agreement between the Ministry of Education and its counterpart in France to facilitate educational processes, including French as a second language programs in public educational institutions and study abroad mechanisms.
Finally, the attendees highlighted the strengthening of the partnership with the French embassy in the face of the exchange of development experiences. The possibility of assistance from French cultural organizations in the elaboration of cultural presentations as part of the District's public events agenda was also raised.
