CARACAS - (AFP) - Venezuela and Colombia announced that they will exchange ambassadors, more than three years after severing relations between them.

This came after the new leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro came to power.

In Caracas, President Nicolás Maduro announced that former foreign minister Félix Plasencia had presented his credentials to the Colombian government and "will soon be in Bogotá" where he will assume the position of ambassador.

For his part, Pietro said in a video clip, "In response to the Venezuelan government's appointment of the ambassador who will be responsible for the normalization of relations between the two countries, I decided to appoint Armando Benedetti as Colombia's ambassador to Venezuela." and Benedetti, a former senator.

Caracas severed diplomatic relations with Bogota in 2019 when right-wing former Colombian President Ivan Duque did not recognize Maduro's re-election and in return supported opposition leader Juan Guaidó's declaration of himself as Venezuela's interim president.

Maduro has also repeatedly spoken of Duque's alleged plans to overthrow him.

In addition to the exchange of ambassadors , the process of normalizing relations between the two countries includes the full reopening of the common borders. Caracas and Bogota will also restore their military relations.

"We will continue, step by step, at a steady pace, to move forward towards restoring and rebuilding political, diplomatic and commercial relations," Maduro said.

Petro, the first leftist president in Colombia's history who was elected on June 19, had previously announced during his campaign that he would restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela as soon as he took office on August 7.