SHANGHAI, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- With its theme, "Discover Colombia Through Its Heart," the Colombian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo showcases opportunities the country offers for investment and tourism, and focuses on improving trade links with China, said a pavilion official.
"Colombia has a lot to offer as a partner of choice and also wants to be a platform for exports," Juan Pablo Cavelier, pavilion director, told Xinhua at the World Expo.
Cavelier said there were significant investment opportunities in Colombia, particularly in mineral exploration and mining, infrastructure, petroleum, biofuel and healthcare.
He said that the Expo enabled Columbia to demonstrate the government's efforts to develop new trade patterns in the Pacific Rim and attract investment from the region's major economies, such as China.
"For Colombia, the Expo serves as a large showroom to present the diverse commercial opportunities available in our country to China," Cavelier said.
During the last three decades, the two nations have signed a total of 40 trade accords with bilateral relations growing dramatically over the last six or seven years, he said.
Located at the gateway to South America, Colombia is the only country boasting both a Pacific and Caribbean coastline. With a diversity of landscapes, historic sites and coastal parks, the country's tourism is "a strong growth sector," Cavelier said.
"The pavilion demonstrates the amazing natural environment that spans the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean, as well as music, festivals, fantastic biodiversity and a wide variety of flora and fauna," he said.
