Colombian President appoints new Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism

President Iván Duque Márquez appointed attorney María Ximena Lombana Villalba, as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

The senior official has a professional profile with extensive experience in foreign trade, foreign relations, dispute resolution and investigation.

It will be the responsibility of the new holder of that portfolio to continue with the actions of reactivation of the productive sector, established in the Commitment for Colombia strategy, which includes five axes for the recovery of the economy and employment.

Lombana will continue to lead the programs and actions to boost the business fabric and generate formality, consolidate the export platform, increase Foreign Direct Investment and reactivate the tourism sector, as well as national and international connectivity.

Maria Ximena Lombana Villalba obtained her professional degree at the Universidad del Rosario. His academic training was complemented by two master's degrees, one in International Business Law, awarded by the Washington College of Law, American University; and another in Labor Law from the University of Paris II.

In her professional practice, she has served as general secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, first secretary of the Colombian Mission to the United Nations, general secretary of Bancóldex and plenipotentiary minister in the embassies to France and Spain.

María Ximena Lombana Villalba's training includes a diploma in National and International Arbitration and another as a Friendly Component of the Arbitration Center of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce.

He has been part of several state arbitration tribunals for the resolution of controversies through alternative methods in the Arbitration Center of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce

Additionally, she worked as a researcher at the Legal Department of the Organization of American States and as a partner at the Cremades & Calvo Sotelo law firm.