Administrative director Diego Molano said the government was willing to immediately initiate talks on 13 points identified by the National Strike Committee but also asked it to refrain from a planned protest on Wednesday.

"We've asked them, given the clamour of Colombians and so that the country can begin the Christmas season peacefully, that they suspend the December 4 strike," Molano said, noting it could have economic and transportation repercussions.

The Strike Committee, comprised of more than a dozen labour, student and other activist groups, did not immediately respond but the leader of the Central Workers Union said they would not halt the protest.

"We're not going to change the activities we have planned," said Diogenes Orjuela, whose organisation is one of the main forces behind the demonstrations.

President Ivan Duque had previously insisted that the Strike Committee join the "national conversation" he has begun with a wider cross-section of society to draft short and long-term solutions to issues such as corruption and inequality.

"I'm the president of all Colombians," he said in a televised interview on Monday. "Those who march and those who don't march."

Protest organisers have refused to take part in that dialogue, criticising it as a conversation among allies that would dilute demonstrator concerns, and instead demanded the president establish separate talks with them.

Authorities estimate 250,000 Colombians took to streets around the nation in protests against Duque's government on November 21.

The Strike Committee held a second demonstration last week that drew far fewer people.

Australian Associated Press