Petro in Venezuela to meet with Maduro, discuss mutual interests

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Days after the Colombian-Venezuelan border has been fully reopened, following a years-long diplomatic spat, the two respective presidents are set to meet in Caracas to work on developing their mutual interests.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro is set to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for lunch on Saturday in Caracas. This meeting would be their second face-to-face meeting following the election of Colombia's first-ever leftist President.

Colombian Ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, said the two leaders were meeting to continue "to work for a shared agenda between two sister nations."

Border reopening between Colombia, Venezuela finalized

Colombia and Venezuela on Sunday finalized the reopening of their borders after long years of a diplomatic quarrel that ended under the new leadership. 

The president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro had previously announced on December 13, 2022, that the full opening of the border between Venezuela and Colombia would be completed on January 1, 2023.

The two countries were scheduled to reopen the Tienditas bridge which had been closed since Juan Guaidó's "humanitarian aid" stunt in February 2019.

The countries' shared 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) land border -- the scene of clashes between armed and criminal groups --  was closed in 2019 and reopened in October 2021 but to pedestrians only.

Under Colombia's conservative President, Ivan Duque, the South American neighbors severed diplomatic ties in 2019.

The border was partially closed seven years ago and completely blocked three years ago.

However, since Petro took over in August, the President has worked to repair ties with Venezuela's populist leftist government.