COLOMBIA,
A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Coordination of Internal and External
Communication Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Relations
FOREGROUND
• PRIVATE PARTIES WILL PROVIDE
SERVICES AT NATURAL PARKS: the National Counsel for Economic and Social Policies (Consejo
Nacional de Política Económica y Social - Conpes),
approved the involvement of private parties in providing ecotourist
services within the Colombian System of Natural Parks. The document
contains guidelines to promote these services and to optimize
the technical, operational and administrative resources at the
Tayrona, Gorgona, Amacayacu, Los Nevados and Otún Quimbaya
Parks. Furthermore, it sets forth that the Ministry of the Environment,
Housing and Territorial Development and the Special Administrative
Unit of National Natural Parks will lead activities related to
the provision of ecotourist services in the System areas.
•
COLOMBIA WINNER IN SALSA OPEN CONTEST: six members of SondeLuz,
from Cali, were awarded the first prize in Puerto Rico during
the most important salsa world encounter. With the rhythm of
Arranca en fa, played by the Colombian band Carrusel, the synchrony
of Natalia García, Carlos Realpe, Ricardo Murrillo, Yaisuri
Salamanca, Sonia Murillo and José Fernando Urueña
beat all other competitors in the group dance category of the
World Salsa Open. Puerto Rico was second and Italy third.
SOCIAL EQUITY
• DECLINE IN POVERTY RATE: in the past two years, poverty
rates declined in Colombia, as a result of the economic growth
achieved in 2003 and the investment that the Administration of
President Álvaro Uribe Vélez is executing in the
social area. The poverty rate declined from 55.8% to 51.8% and
the absolute poverty rate was reduced from 20.8% to16.6%. In
exact numbers, such reduction means that 1,030,000 Colombians
overcame poverty, and 1.6 million overcame absolute poverty.
As regards poverty, in 2002, 23.6 million Colombians were classified
under this category and in 2003, this figure went down to 22.3
million.
• PROVIDENCIA RECOVERS TV SIGNAL: since 18 June, the inhabitants
of the Providencia islands were provided with the service of
Colombia’s public TV channels, as a result of the petition
submitted by the local community to the Colombian Government.
To reinstate the public channels signal in Providencia, the Colombian
Government, through Inravision, contributed resources amounting
to $40 million. Such allocation allowed Inravision technicians
to reinstate the service at the Casabaja and Maracaibo stations.
• SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT BETWEEN
COLOMBIA AND BRAZIL: the Colombian Government has announced
the startup of a bi-national
project for an integrated management of solid waste in Leticia
(Colombia) and Tabatinga (Brazil), coordinated by the Ministry
of Foreign Relations, with the economic support of the Plan Colombia
Infrastructure Area. This undertaking is intended to overcome
the increasing environmental problem in the Amazon border resulting
from the lack of appropriate public utility services.
• INTERNATIONAL AID FOR THE DISPLACED: THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) launched a summon for proposals on
projects that will support
the stabilization and social reinsertion of the displaced population
in Colombia, as it approved a total budget of $29,245 million
for the physical and economic rehabilitation of this population.
The summon will be closed on 3 November and will cover projects
ranging between $1 and $5 million.
• UTILITY SERVICES FOR MORE COLOMBIANS: Up to this date,
2,427,475 Colombians who live in urban areas have been provided
with public utilities, including aqueduct, sewage and cleaning
services, during the Administration of President Álvaro
Uribe Vélez. Out of this total, 874,130 correspond to
new urban population with access to sewage and 753,110 to new
urban population provided with garbage collection and final disposal
of solid waste services. In the first half of this year, 169,560
new Colombians have benefited from the supply of potable water,
169,945 with sewage service, and 163,745 with solid waste collection
and disposal.
• WELL PLANNED MUNICIPALITIES: In nearly 600 municipalities,
improvements have been achieved with respect to taxes, administrative
management, reduced indebtedness levels, and additional own resources
obtained in 2003. Using an indicator of 0 to 100, where 100 is
the best and zero the worst, the National Planning Department
measured tax performance of all Colombian municipalities, as
well as compliance with the operational expense limits established
by Law 617 of 2000, investment levels, adequate debt support
levels, and generation of savings. The “ranking” of
the best managed municipalities is headed by Mosquera (in Cundinamarca)
with 79.46 points; second is Yumbo (Valle del Cauca) with 78.65
points, and third is Cogua (also in Cundinamarca) with 77.61
points.
• ACADEMIC SUPPORT: thirty two
English and French assistants arrived in Colombia from Great
Britain, France and Barbados with
the purpose of providing academic support for the learning of
a second language, in the same number of Colombian schools and,
at the same time, to become fluent in Spanish. The English and
French assistants will provide their services to the schools
for one year, i.e. through July 2005, but this term may be extended.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT GENERATION
• ADDITIONAL VISITS TO NATURAL
PARKS: more than one million
people have visited natural parks in Colombia in the first two
years of the Administration of president Álvaro Uribe.
The increased number of tourists to these protected zones generated
revenues amounting to $4 billion, plus employment opportunities
among the surrounding communities. In 2003, a total of 433,704
tourists visited the natural parks. In this yearly period, the
most visited parks were Corales with 219,917 visitors and Tayrona
with 108,402, followed by Nevados with 48,154, Salamanca with
10,101, Providencia with 9,238 and Corota with 7,348.
• ENERGY INTEGRATION WITH ECUADOR: Interconexión
Eléctrica S.A. (ISA), the largest power carriersr in Colombia
and one of the largest in Latin America, has strengthened its
presence in Ecuador. The company entered into an agreement with
Corporación Centro Nacional de Control de Energía
del Ecuador, Cenace, through which a scheme is implemented that
allows ISA to eventually operate from its National Dispatch Center
(CND) in Medellin the Hydropaute station, which is the largest
power generator of the neighboring country, a process that ISA
is able to carry out through a high technology program called
Automatic Generation Control (AGC), which constantly verifies
frequency variations in the Ecuadorian system.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
IN JULY, 301 TERRORISTS DEMOBILIZED: The Humanitarian Aid Program for the Demobilized Population
has reported that in July, 301
members of outlaw armed groups decided, voluntarily and individually,
to lay down their arms. The illegal armed group that lost more
combatants through demobilization was FARC,161, followed by AUC,
100, ELN 31, and dissident groups 9. The group included 62 under-aged
and 51 women. The province that reported the highest number of
desertions this month was Antioquia, with 58 cases, followed
by Norte de Santander and Casanare (27 each), Caquetá (25)
and Cundinamarca (17). Adding these 301, the total number of
members of illegal armed groups who have voluntarily surrendered
in 2004 is 1.661, for a total of 4,929 so far during the current
Administration.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• NATION RESOURCES: The Colombian
Government submitted to Congress Bill of Law 091, which foresees
a budget for next
year amounting to $93 trillion, $91.5 of which correspond to
the basic budget, and $1.5 to a supplementary budget. With regard
to debt service and investment, 32.3 trillion will be allocated
to the first line item, and 60.8 trillion to the second. Taking
into account the three fundamental pillars of this budget, out
of the $60.8 trillion, 80% ($48.9) will be allocated to social
and economic reactivation, 16% ($9.8) to democratic security,
and the remaining portion ($2.2 trillion) to the renovation of
the public administration.
(FIN/PCO/CIE)
6 August 2004
