Starting today November 1st, the cargo transit schedule across the international bridges between Táchira and Norte de Santander was extended, a decision that is part of the rapprochement between the governments and customs authorities of Colombia and Venezuela to begin promoting the much needed atmosphere of trust.
Anggy Polanco / Correspondent lapatilla.com
Now shipments of imports and exports of merchandise will be able to cross from 9:00 in the morning to 7:00 at night (Venezuelan time), from Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 1:00 p.m.
These schedules were set during a meeting that took place this October 30th at the Main Customs building of San Antonio between authorities from Colombia and Venezuela. The meeting was attended by representatives of the National Customs Directorate of Colombia; the Vice Consul of Colombia in San Cristóbal, Luis Zapata; representatives of the Norte de Santander Department; the Colombian Agricultural Institute; Invima; A representative of the Association of Customs Assistants of Táchira (Asoata), Nelson Urueña; and representatives of the National Integrated Customs and Tax Administration Service (Seniat).
Nelson Urueña, representative of the Táchira customs officers, explained that until this Tuesday, Colombia was making shipments of the merchandise exported to Venezuela from 10:00 am, since at that the commercial transit opening took place. They had established this schedule to avoid coinciding with students who cross the border from the municipalities of Táchira to receive their classes on the Colombian side.
Given that the schedule caused delays and almost half a day was lost, they decided to standardize the schedule from Monday to Friday, which will speed up the procedures, especially now that the high season for the flow of goods has arrived, said Urueña.
He explained that Saturdays will be used to dispatch delayed loads, because sometimes it happens that some shipments are delayed due to mechanical failures of the trucks or because they are not loaded on time.
“All this has meant that trade is gradually improving. It has been slow, but we must recognize that the increase has been constant, so we hope that by the end of the year in this area we will have an average that exceeds 300 million dollars in trade exchanges,” said Nelson Urueña.
He assured that Venezuela is trying to create new products to export to Colombia, in order to generate a greater volume of exports for next year.
The representative of Asoata said that they hope that the growth of commercial exchange will translate into social and economic well-being for the border community so that young people do not continue leaving the country and are able to find sources of employment in Táchira.