COLOMBIA, A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• PLEASE HOLD THE FIRST IMMIGRANT
FAIR IN MADRID AGAIN,
stated the President of the Real Estate Association of Medellín
and Antioquia, Jorge Mario Ángel Arbeláez, who
called the fair a “great discovery”. The four fairs
have had more than a million dollars in sales, attendance of
more than 8,000 people, and houses and apartments offered by
60 real estate agencies to the Colombians residing in that capital
city, according to Proexport. The goal is for 5% of the remittances
each year from Colombians outside the country to be redirected
to real estate. That would be 45 million dollars, out of the
711 million Euros remitted each year, invested in a sector that
generates employment.
• GOVERNMENT SUBMITS THE “JUSTICE AND PEACE” PROJECT applicable in the processes with the self defense and guerrilla
groups, which establishes a minimum sentence of five years and
a maximum of 10, and the rights of victims to reparation. The
legislative project, designed to be a judicial instrument for
the dialogues with any illegal armed organization, was submitted
for the consideration of the Congress of the Republic on Wednesday.
It is based on a balance between justice and peace, a credibility
that will underpin advancement on the current demobilizations,
and a universal scope, since it is applicable to members of both
the self defense and guerrilla groups. A Tribunal for Truth,
Justice, and Reparation will establish the sentences.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• THE FNG PROMOTED MICRO CREDITS and low-income housing
for 2005 with resources that are almost double that of the budget
for 2004 announced the President of the National Guarantee Fund
(FNG), Juan Carlos Durán. There are 70 billion pesos for
housing for this year, which will make it possible to build between
7 thousand and 7,800 homes for Colombians of scarce resources.
This year 250 billion pesos will be granted for micro credits
for productive projects, a figure that surpasses the $287,128
million pesos available last year. The fund seeks to make Colombia
a country of homeowners.
• LANDS FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE: the national government
will deliver, through the Colombian Institute for Rural Development
(Incoder), $3 billion Colombian pesos for the purchase of properties
in the Department of Cauca, in order to hand them over to the
indigenous communities and to fulfill the promises made in 1999.
Arturo Vega Varón, manager of the institution, signed
an agreement with the Governor, Juan José Cháux,
specifying the commitments made to establishment, expansion,
improvement, and/or restructuring of the reserves. A second agreement
for $100 million to continue the project will be put in motion
in Balboa, La Vega, Inzá, Páez, Suárez,
and Sucre, in Cauca.
• REDUCING MALNUTRITION IN CHILDREN is one of the national
government’s challenges through the ICBF (Colombian Institute
for Family Well Being), which has proposed in 2005 to reach 500
thousand children under 5 years of age, at Sisben income level
1, which would increase the number of minors covered by the breakfast
program to one million. The goal established for four years has
been met, according to Beatriz Londoño, ICBF Director,
who specified that they have reached 601 Municipalities, at 2,600
points in the nation. Sixty billion pesos will be invested, coming
from the social security contributions made by companies to ICBF.
In 2004, 517,598 children benefited.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• 1,339,000 NEW JOBS WERE CREATED to put a stop to “the
tendency toward growth in unemployment”, stated the Minister
of Social Protection, Diego Palacio, making it the greatest rate
for employment generation in the last 8 years. This result is
contrary to the predictions, even those from the Comptroller
General of the Republic, which foresaw an unemployment rate for
this year of 20.1% and of 22.4% for 2006. President Uribe promised
in his development plan to generate the conditions for the creation
of 2,438,311 jobs. In addition, 2.5 million people moved from
the informal job market to the formal one.
• IN 2004 AIR TRAVEL GREW BY
6.1%, with 632,733 more passengers than in 2003. International passengers
increased by 12.9% and
national travelers increased by 3.4%, going from 7,437,722 in
2003 to 7,690,762 last year. Cargo transportation for imports
and exports increased by 12%.
• DEALS IN THE AMOUNT OF TWO
MILLION DOLLARS were put
together by Colombian leather and shoe companies that participated
in the Footwear & Leather Show, with the international buyer’s
mission brought by Proexport. Of the two million dollars, one
million represents deals closed and signed during the Fair, and
the remainder of the deals will be closed within six months,
after the process is completed for sending samples and defining
the sales prices. Of the 146 entrepreneurs, 94 came to the country
for the first time, therefore diversifying the group of buyers.
• INVESTMENT GREW BY 15.2% last
year in Colombia in the private and public sectors, reaching
the same levels as in 1992.
According to the report made by the National Planning Department
(DNP), Colombia is in a full economic reactivation. Santiago
Montenegro, DNP director, pointed out that economic growth for
2004 will be close to 3.9%, similar to 2003 when it was 3.95%.
Another positive indicator is the reduction in the ratio between
debt and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2004 the debt was
52.3% of GDP and as of September of that same year it had lowered
to 46.9%. The fiscal deficit is 2.3%, the lowest level since
1999.
• INTERNATIONALIZING THE ECONOMY by means of a commercial
agreement with North America is a way of moving toward the Colombian
goal of having sustainable growth, expressed the Minister of
Commerce, Industry, and Tourism, Jorge Humberto Botero, during
the Seventh Round of FTA Negotiations in Cartagena. According
to Botero, the successful economies that have sustainable growth,
generate employment, reduce poverty, and expand coverage for
social security, are open economies. He clarified that the process
is “gradual and negotiated, which allows us to be sensitive
to the concerns of different sectors”.
• BANCOLDEX LOANED $261 BILLION in credits to small businesses
during 2004, representing an increase of 91.5% over 2003, contributing
to the generation of new businesses and employment in Colombia.
$101,234 million pesos financed business modernization and $160,247
million pesos were for working capital, among other uses. By
sectors, services applied for $127,000 million in credits, commerce
$66,000 million, textiles, clothing and leather $19,623 million,
and agriculture and agro-industry $15,151 million. By region,
Cundinamarca and Bogotá received $112,000 million, Valle
del Cauca, $49,147 million, and Antioquia $30,507 million.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• KIDNAPPING FOR EXTORTION DECREASED
BY 67.7% in January 2005 compared to the same month the prior
year, reported the
Minister of Defense, Jorge Alberto Uribe. The Police and Armed
Forces captured 540 members of illegal armed groups, killed 175
members, and seized 339 firearms, 1,969 grenades, and 97,743
rounds of ammunition of different calibers. They also destroyed
139 cocaine factories, and sprayed 15,391 hectares of illicit
crops. The Colombian Navy confiscated 12 tons of pure cocaine.
• THE LOWEST RATE FOR HOMICIDES since 1985 in Colombia
was recorded last year thanks to the Democratic Security program,
explained the Director of National Planning, Santiago Montenegro,
to the participants in the National Table for International Coordination
and Cooperation, when he delivered the results of the National
Development Plan “Toward a Community State”. He indicated
that in 2004 the homicide rate fell to 44.15 for each 100 thousand
people, a rate that in 1985 was 40.82. Attacks on towns were
reduced by 97% between 2002 and 2004, going from 32 to 1 last
year. In 2002, 158 municipalities did not have any Police or
Armed Forces personnel present, but today they have the Army,
the Police, or other institutions.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• IDEAM CREATES AN AUDIO-RESPONSE
SERVICE to effectively
and opportunely inform citizens about the temperature, weather
forecasts, and warnings across the country. The updated information
system can be accessed by dialing telephone number 352-7130.
Option 4 gives the forecast and/or temperature for the Savannah
of Bogotá. Option 5 gives a weather forecast for the main
regions of the country, and option 6 gives weather warnings for
the nation. In addition, the daily forecast and current conditions
can be consulted by calling 243-4251 or http://www.ideam.gov.co/tiempo/aero/index4.asp
(FIN/JHINA/CIE)
February 11, 2005
