| COLOMBIA,
A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• TELECOM LAUNCHES PREPAID CARD
IN THE US: Colombians
residing in the United States can now communicate with family
members and friends in Colombia and in the rest of the world,
thanks to the new ‘Tarjeta Prepago Telecom USA’ (Telecom
USA Prepaid Card), launched initially in the southern part of
Florida. The cards, available in denominations of US $2, US $5
and US $10, can be used from any telephone, and allow calls to
a fixed number in Colombia, for up to 85 minutes. They are available
in service stations and commercial establishments in Florida.
Colombians interested in receiving further information can call
the Client Service number 1-(888) 969-0009 (in the USA) and 01(800)
910-9109 (in Colombia) or consult the web page: www.telecomcolombiausa.com.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION: the national government
launched the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) program, which, with
an investment of $800 million contributed by Ecopetrol, will
provide benefits for 3,500 peasant families in Cauca in its first
phase. The program’s objective is to substitute in the
region the use of LPG gas for wood fuel, with an eye toward protecting
the environment in the highly vulnerable zones of Cauca where
the country dwellers cut down forests to provide wood to cook
their food. The program foresees the delivery to each beneficiary
family a kit that will include a two-burner stove, with a hose
and a regulator, a cylinder full of 33 pounds of LP gas, and
two additional coupons that will permit refill the cylinders
two times. Without including the two refills, the equipment to
be delivered has a cost of $130 thousand pesos, of which the
families need only pay $25 thousand.
• SHAREHOLDER PARTICIPATION FOR
THE WUAYUÚ ETHNIC
GROUP: the national government delivered to representatives of
the Sumain Ichi, Waya Wuayuú and Asocharma indigenous
communities, certificates for shareholder participation, making
them owners of 76% of the company ‘Salinas Marítimas
de Manaure’ (Ocean Salt Industry of Manaure) (Sama). For
that purpose, the first step will be to write the constitution
of the mixed economy company, for the exploitation and processing
of the salt, with 51% of the shares owned by the Ministry of
Commerce, Industry, and Tourism, 24% by the Mayor’s office
of Manaure, and 25% by the Wuayuú community of Manaure.
After that, government shares will be ceded to the three indigenous
communities, with which the Sumain Ichi will have 36%, the Waya
Wuayuú 30% and Asocharma will have 10%.
• HOUSING AND DRINKING WATER
IN LA GUAJIRA: the national
government approved resources for $6.183 million for subsidies
for low-income housing, water mains, and basic health works in
the Department of La Guajira. The Ministry of the Environment,
Housing, and Territorial Development issued three resolutions
that assign resources for $1,949 million for 356 low-income housing
subsidies in 8 municipalities of La Guajira, by means of the ‘Bolsa Única
Nacional’ (Sole National Fund), for Displaced Persons and
Victims of Terrorist Attacks. By means of Resolution 805 of December
9, 2004, the Ministry reassigned resources from the Bolsa Única
Nacional in the amount of $639 million for 85 low-income housing
subsidies in the municipality of Barrancas.
• MORE RESOURCES FOR DISPLACED
PERSONS: for the year 2005, the budget for the Solidarity Network
for attention to forced
internal displacement went from $25 billion to $200 billion,
that is to say, the specific appropriation was multiplied by
eight. In the course of last year, the national government assigned
$100 billion in housing subsidies that will benefit close to
15 thousand homes of Colombians who have been displaced, and
starting this week, 14,598 subsidies will start to be assigned
to an equal number of displaced families. Of this aid, 7,667
correspond to rental, home improvement, and on-site construction
modes, while the remaining 6,931 subsidies were assigned for
the acquisition of new housing.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• SUPPORT TO NEW BUSINESSES: SENA
announced that Fondo Emprender (Enterprise Fund) has $17 billion
available to finance
the birth of new Colombian companies, and that the application
process for this initiative will be open until May 16, 2005.
On its part, the institute will provide advice for the entrepreneurs,
so that the projects that are presented might be viable and in
accordance with the education and training acquired by the proponents.
Specifically, on this occasion, partial evaluations will be carried
out, in such a way that the entrepreneurs will not have to wait
until the end to learn of the results. The requirements, or any
other information about Fondo Emprender can be accessed on the
following web pages: www.fondoemprender.com, www.sena.edu.co
and www.fonade.gov.co. Those interested in talking to an advisor
can send questions to e-mail address: asesoriafondoemprender@sena.edu.co.
• FINAGRO LOANS TO SMALL PRODUCERS
IN THE COUNTRYSIDE: an increase of 28% in credits for the agricultural sector was
reported by the ‘Fondo para el Financiamiento del Sector
Agropecuario’ (Fund for Financing the Agricultural Sector)
(Finagro) in the first eleven months of this year. The loans
made reached 1.72 trillion Colombian pesos, when in the same
time period the year before they totaled $1.3 billion. The total
agricultural funds available as of November 30 reached $2.9 billon,
greater by 26% than those in the same time period in 2003.
• MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
WILL INCREASE SPECTRUM AVAILABLE TO COMPANIES: in order to improve
communications using Mobile
Cellular Telephone services (TMC for the initials in Spanish),
increasing the quality and providing optimum services to users,
the national government will extend the electromagnetic spectrum
in which companies can operate. For the additional delivery of
radio electric spectrum, the Mobile Cellular Telephone servers
should meet the following requirements before the Ministry of
Communications: Service Provider license for the requesting party,
a request from the legal representative specifying the bandwidth
of megahertz required as additional spectrum, and a presentation
of technical studies, approved by the legal representative, showing
the need for the additional spectrum in order to be able to continue
to provide and expand the service under the established technical
conditions, quality, and coverage, and to introduce new applications
derived from technological developments..
• EARNINGS IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR: in the first eleven months of 2004 the Colombian and foreign
capital financial sector
reported earnings of $2 trillion 607 billion. This figure represents
an increase of 57.28%, since in the same period of 2003 it earned
one trillion 657 billion. Specifically, the national banking
institutions increased earnings by 50%, going from one trillion
211 billion Colombian pesos between January and November of 2003,
to one trillion 819 billion in the same period of 2004. The foreign
private sector improved earnings by 127.53% in the same time
period, going from $147,688 million to $336,035 million. And
in the case of the cooperative institutions, earnings improved
by 4.25%, upon increasing from $17.616 million to $18.365 million.
• GOOD PRICES: the price of Colombian
coffee increased to US $1.10 per pound, reaching the highest
price in the last
55 months. Bean exports passed the barrier of one billion dollars.
Between December of 2003 and November 2004, international sales
of the bean totaled 10,127,000 sacks. The last time that Colombia
had such a high income from the sale of coffee was in December
1999, with $1.235 million.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• ROAD CLEARED FOR RENEWING ID
CARDS: the process of modernizing
the identification system, implemented by the National Registry
to renew old citizen ID cards, will be strengthened by means
of a new phase that will last until the year 2009, and will also
permit the issuance of new identification cards and updating
the civil registry. This program, carried out by the ‘Consejo
de Política Económica y Social’ (Economic
and Social Political Council), Conpes, seeks to renew close to
30 million citizen ID cards, issue 3 million identification cards,
digitize 41 million civil registrations, and record 12 million
others. The technological modernization decreases operation costs
and also the vulnerability of paper filing systems, simplifies
the time required for requesting an ID card that currently requires
manual consultation with 4 independent files, and facilitates
the availability of an updated and complete data base with information
on marital status and biographic and fingerprint information
for Colombians, among other advantages.
(FIN/PCO/CIE)
December 24, 2004
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