Above: Acting Governor David Bernier and Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States, Luis Carlos Villegas (Photo: OG Puerto Rico)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States, Luis Carlos Villegas, visited Puerto Rico this week, the first-ever official visit of a Colombian Ambassador to the island.

Villegas met with Acting Governor David Bernier at La Fortaleza in San Juan.

The meeting, which focused on trade issues, follows a memorandum of understanding signed between Puerto Rico and Colombia in July 2013.

Indeed, Puerto Rico has opened a trade office in Bogota, aiming to promote the island to the South American region and Colombia in particular.

“The Ambassador is a diplomat with extensive experience and a strong commitment to the Caribbean,” Bernier said.

For his part, Villegas said the visit was “of particular importance to me” given the fact that it was the first by a Colombian envoy to the island.