Santos thanks Canadians

OTTAWA — Colombia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning president thanked Canadians for their support of his country’s peace process as he paid his first official visit to Ottawa on Monday.

Juan Manuel Santos was met with blustery winds and a driving rain earlier in the day as he arrived at Rideau Hall, where the weather forced the official welcome and an honour guard ceremony indoors.

The rain had drenched Ottawa before Santos could be greeted by Gov. Gen. Julie Payette, who was hosting her first official state visit since being sworn in earlier this month.

The Colombian leader made note of the rain as he arrived, telling Payette that he believed it was a good sign of “water from the heavens” blessing what he described as the “matrimonial relationship” between the two countries.

Flooding in the national capital region even forced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take back roads aboard an all-terrain vehicle to reach his motorcade for the commute to his Ottawa office from his weekend residence in the nearby Gatineau Hills.

Santos was awarded the peace prize last year for his efforts to end Colombia’s half-century-long civil war, but said Canada — along with other nations — was instrumental in maintaining the momentum behind peace talks.

“I came here to ... thank the prime minister and the Canadians for all the help that we have received in this difficult peace process in the last years,” Santos said during a photo op with Trudeau.

The president added that he wanted to strengthen economic ties between Canada and Colombia and also thanked Canada for helping to educate people in his country.

The two nations signed a free-trade agreement in 2008 and Colombia this month hosted the first round of formal negotiations aimed at reaching a trade deal that would include Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore as associate states in the Pacific Alliance trading bloc.