Colombia's Vice President & foreign minister Marta Lucía Ramírez speaks to WION

The visiting vice president and the foreign minister of Colombia Marta Lucía Ramírez has said that she sees Indo Pacific as a region that has "a lot of opportunities for growth and wealth creation" even as she highlighted connect with the Pacific Alliance-- a block of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The vice President is in India and met vice President Venkaiah Naidu and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. Speaking to our Principal Diplomatic & Defense Correspondent Sidhant Sibal, Colombian Vice President called for collaboration on vaccines saying, "we would like to produce vaccines together with India in order to export to different countries" and backed more partnership in aerospace and biotech. Being the first women vice president of her country, she had a message of women empowerment. She highlighted the need for more women in job creation and entrepreneurship saying, "when women have economic autonomy, there is less violence against women and children." On a lighter note, she talked about her love for Indian Sarees, of which she bought 3. Vice President Ramirez is leading a 48-member health and science and technology delegation to India. Both Colombia and India have also signed Letters of Intent for cooperation in the fields of biotechnology and medical research. These were signed by the Department of Biotechnology and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with their Colombian counterparts.