Norway hailed the Colombian Government and ELN for agreeing to extend the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire for 180 days | Photo: @NoruegaenCOL

Havana, February 6 (RHC)-- The Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN) made official on Tuesday in Havana, Cuba , the creation of a Multi-Donor Fund for the Peace Process at the end of the sixth cycle of dialogues.

"It seeks to make this process sustainable in the development of the agreements," said Vera Grabe, head of the government delegation.

The parties announced this agreement a day after both agreed to extend the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire for another six months, just minutes before the deadline expired. The ceasefire came into effect on August 3, 2023 and last week it was extended for seven days.

On this issue, ELN chief negotiator Israel Ramírez Pineda, better known as Pablo Beltrán, added that it is "to support the implementation of the agreements as a whole". He added that it is no longer only the guarantor and accompanying countries that are present, since "it is a fund that is open to other donors to help".

"With that we have a challenge, the good use of resources because unfortunately in previous governments these peace funds have also been subject to high corruption," he said.