Wednesday, 24 May 2023, Berlin, Germany: Colombia’s Ambassador in Germany, Yadir Salazar Mejía was welcomed for a tête-à-tête by the Speaker of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag), Bärbel Bas, a top politician from the Social Democratic Party. Speaker Bas is in office since 26 October 2021, and joined the Bundestag back in 2009.
Parliamentary diplomacy is an important component of an embassy’s mission in a given foreign country. Germany maintains a bilateral parliamentary system, with a Bundestag elected directly by the electorate as well as one upper chamber representing the German federal states, or Bundesländer.
Whereas Colombia is also home to a bicameral legislature, namely a lower house, or House of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes) with 188 seats as well as a 108-seat Senate, the upper house. Both chambers are elected through universal suffrage. David Racero is the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Ambassador Salazar Mejía was accredited in Germany on 24 October 2022 at Bellevue Palace. She speaks Spanish, English, German and French. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics of European Integration from the University of the Saarland, Germany as well as a Certificate in Environmental Management and Global Climate Change from Harvard University, USA.
Salazar began her diplomatic career in 1997, and has served in Bonn (1999-2005, First Secretary of Foreign Affairs at the Embassy of Colombia in Germany – Head of Economic Affairs and Human Rights, Bonn, and Berlin); New York City (from 2010-2011, Alternate Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations); Washington D.C. (2011-2016 Minister Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the Organization of American States – OAS) as well as Berlin (from October 2020, Minister Plenipotentiary; subsequently since August 2022 Chargée d’affaires a.i. of the Embassy of the Republic of Colombia in Germany). She was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Republic of Germany in September 2022.
For further information
Colombian House of Representatives: https://www.camara.gov.co
Embassy of the Republic of Colombia in Germany:
