By Boudou Gueffai and Abeer Abdalla
Boudou Gueffai, Editor-in-Chief, interviewed President Petro at the Colombian Embassy in Riyadh on October 28, 2025. Reporting and writing by Boudou Gueffai and Abeer Abdalla, Managing Editor.
Riyadh | Gustavo Petro doesn’t sit like a politician. He leans forward, hands moving when he makes a point, like he’s already building the bridge he’s talking about. We met at the Colombian Embassy, still new enough that you could smell the paint, and the President had just finished cutting the ribbon. But he wasn’t interested in talking about ribbons.
“I came here to invite,” he said. “Not to ask. To invite.”
Coffee, and the Knowledge Behind It
President Petro had spent his mornings with PIF meetings, specifically the Saudi Coffee Company. Not pitching. Sharing. “My grandfather picked coffee,” he said. “My father too. I know this plant better than I know politics. And Saudi Arabia wants to grow. Not just buy, grow. That is interesting to me” he told The Saudi Times.
He sees the partnership differently than most trade deals. Colombia isn’t selling beans. It’s selling generations of knowledge. Colombia recently obtained halal certification for coffee and cacao exports, a door now open to the Arab world. Petro is particularly focused on crop substitution zones, where communities once grew coca and now cultivate coffee. “These farmers need markets,” he said. “Saudi Arabia can be that market.”
“You have vision here. Vision 2030, I read it. Food security, agriculture, technology. We can help with this. Not as employees. As partners. We bring something you need. You bring something we want. That is real trade.”
El País de la Belleza
President Petro kept returning to three words: “el país de la belleza.” The Country of Beauty. But he wasn’t selling postcards. He was talking about what happens when Saudis actually go.
“Your people travel now. Doha, London, Paris, they know these places. Colombia? They don’t know yet. But they will,” he told The Saudi Times.
His eyes lit up when he talked about the Amazon. “I am a big fan of the Amazon forest. It is not just a forest. It is a world. A living world.” He spoke about it like someone describing a favorite room in their home, intimate, protective, proud. Petro is an advocate for nature and the environment. This is not politics for him. It is personal. The Amazon is not a talking point, it is something he has fought to protect long before he was President.
Then the cities. “Santa Marta, the coast, the history. Barranquilla, the energy, the carnival. Bogotá, altitude, culture, real city life. And Cartagena…” He smiled. “Cartagena speaks for itself.”
He wasn’t reciting a tourism brochure. He was sharing personal places.
“We are preparing. Hotels, guides, experiences. Not for tourists. For guests.”
Five Ministers and a Conversation
Petro brought five ministers to Riyadh. Not for show, for learning.
“I told them: watch everything. How they build, how they plan, how they move fast. Saudi Arabia is changing in real time. We can learn from this.”
The ministers attended FII. They met officials. They watched.
“Colombia has resources. Saudi Arabia has momentum. Together?” He shrugged, smiled. “That is the question we came to answer.”
The Meeting
The question of his meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came up late in the conversation. The two leaders had sat down the previous afternoon, with a second session scheduled to continue the following day. Petro chose his words carefully. Measured, not rehearsed.
“We talked about the future,” he said. “His vision is clear. Not just dreams. Plans. I respect this.”
He moved quickly to substance. Agriculture, where Colombia’s productive base meets the Kingdom’s food security agenda. Technology, where both governments have placed institutional bets. And what he framed as the working method of serious partnership.
“We discussed what two countries can build when they stop being polite and start being serious.”
The stated goal of the visit was the signing of five memoranda of understanding and the strengthening of diplomatic relations. Petro declined to share specifics on the room. The framing was its own signal.
“Leadership is vision,” he told The Saudi Times. “I found vision here.”
Why Now?
Petro turned to Expo 2030, and Colombia’s intent to be visible from the start, the first country to confirm their presence.
“We believe in this region. Not next year, long term. The Expo is 2030. We are ready now. That tells you something.”
He also talked about AI. Colombia has built AI faculties, invested in education. Another overlap with Saudi Vision 2030.
“Different paths,” he said. “Same horizon.”
Clean Energy and La Guajira
Petro sees another frontier: clean energy. He spoke about La Guajira, a region with significant Arab heritage, as a potential hub for renewable energy projects.
“The wind there, the sun there, we could power not just Colombia, but help clean the energy matrix of the entire Americas,” he said. “Saudi Arabia understands energy. We understand potential. Together, we build something.”
Sustainable tourism, culturally respectful tourism, is part of the vision. Not exploitation. Development.
Education and Exchange
The partnership isn’t just commerce. Starting next year, 27 Colombian students from all regions will pursue undergraduate studies in Saudi Arabia, fully funded scholarships now open for application.
“We don’t want to send only students from Bogotá,” Petro said. “We want young people from the coast, from the jungle, from everywhere. They come here, they learn, they return. That is how you build real connection.”
A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the two culture ministries, covering artist exchanges, composer collaborations, and writer residencies. “Diplomacy through culture,” President Petro called it. “The best kind.”
The Ambassador
Before we finished, Petro nodded toward H.E. Rayan El-Barkachi Aboutrabi, the first Colombian Ambassador resident in Riyadh, who had moved through the morning’s choreography without ever stepping into the frame. Two nights earlier, he had cut the ribbon on the embassy itself, the first Colombian diplomatic mission in the Kingdom.
https://thesauditimes.net/en/colombian-embassy-in-saudi-arabia-for-the-first-time/
“This man,” Petro said. “He built this before we cut the ribbon. An embassy is stone and glass. Relations are people. Dr. El-Barkachi understood this from day one.”
The Ambassador inclined his head. Earlier, in remarks to local press, he had described the opening as “a moment of unity and opportunity,” and noted that diversifying the Colombian economy under the lens of Saudi Vision 2030 was a priority. In the room, he did not speak. He didn’t need to.
The Historical Thread
Before we finished, Petro touched on something deeper than trade. He talked about blood.
“The Colombian people have Arab blood,” he said. “Sailors came with the conquest ships. Migrants came escaping the Ottoman Empire, then after World War I, then from Palestine. The Caribbean especially, you see it in the faces, the names, the food.”
He wasn’t speaking academically. He was stating fact, personal fact. “This connection is centuries old. We are not starting something new. We are remembering something ancient.”
The Invitation
As our time ended, Petro stood and repeated what he had started with.
“Tell The Saudi Times readers: Colombia is ready. For investment, for partnership, for visitors. We are not asking for charity. We are offering collaboration. Come see us. Come see what we have built. Then we talk.”
He walked toward the camera, posed briefly with the team from The Saudi Times, and was talking again before the shutter had cleared. Hands moving, the next bridge already half-drawn.
The embassy was new. The conversation, as Petro made clear, was older than the building and longer than the morning.
Key Outcomes from the Visit
- Halal certification secured for Colombian coffee and cocoa exports, announced by President Petro from Riyadh
- 27 Saudi government scholarships open to Colombian students for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral study, across more than 40 institutions
- Cultural cooperation agreement signed by Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan and Colombian Minister of Culture Yannai Kadamani, covering residencies, festival participation, and training programs
- Bilateral meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, October 28, with a stated objective of five memoranda of understanding
- Petro participation at FII9 alongside the Crown Prince’s program of bilateral meetings with heads of state; the Colombian President co-chaired a closed Heads of State roundtable, “What’s the True Cost of Economic Security?,” alongside the presidents of Bermuda, Guyana, and Rwanda, facilitated by former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
- Petro panel appearance at FII9 alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino
- Proposal raised for direct Bogotá-Riyadh air connectivity
- Proposal raised for a CELAC-Gulf Council mechanism to formalize Latin America and Middle East dialogue
- Clean energy collaboration discussed, with La Guajira identified as a potential renewables hub
Boudou Gueffai is Editor-in-Chief of The Saudi Times. He interviewed President Gustavo Petro at the Colombian Embassy in Riyadh on October 28, 2025, during the Future Investment Initiative. Managing Editor Abeer Abdalla covered the President’s broader programme in the Kingdom, including the FII9 main conference at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center, the embassy opening on October 27, and the signing of the cultural cooperation agreement between the Colombian and Saudi culture ministries.
The Saudi Times’s coverage of President Petro’s visit was coordinated with the office of Angie Rodríguez, then Director of the Administrative Department of the Presidency of Colombia and Secretary General of the Presidency, whose team facilitated press access during the delegation’s Riyadh programme.
