COLOMBIA, A POSITIVE COUNTRY

Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations

ON THE FRONT PAGE

• COMMITMENT OF THE FTA NEGOTIATORS: The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism during the last round of FTA negotiations insisted on the commitment the country has to have a national vision, to protect national interests, and to maintain a transparent process that is open to the country. Indicative of this commitment are the meetings between the Minister of Commerce and the Head of the Negotiating Team (135 times), with local and departmental authorities (11), with business executives (81), with small and mid-sized companies (23), with the educational sector (42), with workers’ unions (11), with control entities (5), with the Episcopal conference (3), with Congress (69), and with national government institutions (113).

SOCIAL INVESTMENT

• GOVERNMENT REFINANCES LOANS FOR VICTIMS: farmers in Santander, Norte de Santander, and Tolima who lost their harvests to flooding, and who had loans with the Banco Agrario (Agrarian Bank) will have their loans refinanced, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It is estimated that between 2 and 4 thousand small, medium-sized, and large farms in the three Departments could be affected. A team from the Bank traveled to the region to evaluate the loan portfolio in danger from the flooding, and the types of crops affected. It was indicated that the interest rates would not change, but the payment schedule would be modified.

PLAN COLOMBIA PAYS SUBSIDIES TO 323 THOUSAND POOR FAMILIES: the mothers benefiting from the Families in Action program will receive subsidies for nutrition and education until next February 27th. A total of $34,056 million pesos were deposited in banking institutions in the 627 municipalities of the country, benefiting 322,944 mothers from Sisben income level 1, and 721,651 minors. Families in Action is the second instrument of the equality policy “Social Protection”, that this year aims to reach 400 thousand low-income families.

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT

• COLOMBIA GETS READY TO EXPORT SERVICES: the service sector last year represented 67% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Colombia. The results highlight the behavior of transportation with 4%, financial services with 4.7% and telecommunications with 3%, according to Proexport. The sector contributed to 70% of employment generated, and 15% of the exports for the period, with future potential for medical services, software, and back office services, among others.

• DEPARTMENTS RECEIVE ROYALTIES: The National Hydrocarbons Agency handed over royalties for crude oil and gas production from December 2004. According to the Development Plans of the beneficiary regional institutions and Law 756 of 2002, the funds must be invested in priority projects in health, education, and basic improvements. By Department, the resources were distributed as follows: Casanare $43,439.7 million, Meta $20,798.7 million, Huila $16,642.6 million, Arauca $15,309.4 million, and Santander $8,486.7 million.

• ANTIOQUIA, EXPORTING DEPARTMENT: sales from Antioquia abroad were over US $1,862 million in the first ten months of 2004. According to the export report from Proexport, this Department achieved growth of 18% with respect to the same period in 2003, when its sales abroad were US $1,574 million. The main destinations for its exports were the United States, Venezuela, and Ecuador, with percentages of 41.5%, 14% and 11%, respectively. One of the main products exported was gold ore, whose sales equaled over US $301 million between January and October 2003, and US $270 million in the same period of 2004.

• VALLE BETS ON FUEL ALCOHOL: the Department wants to base its development on new alternatives for energy production. In the regional meeting of the Internal Agenda held in Cali and coordinated by National Planning, it was concluded that in order to have sustainable development, its potential to export to the markets in the Pacific and the United States must be taken advantage of. It must also promote the capacity to compete in 14 productive sectors, including pulp for paper, clothing, fruits and vegetables, forest products, candy, organic cultivation of plants for herbal teas, medicine, and cosmetic uses, and fishing and aquaculture.

DEMOCRATIC SECURITY

• THIRTY-TWO CONFISCATED PROPERTIES OCCUPIED: the Colombian Police, in coordination with the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, occupied 32 confiscated properties in Cali, appraised at a value of $6,500 million. The operative against money laundering took place on properties belonging to Jesús Ernesto Chávez Ortiz and Guillermo Duero Toledo, for activities related to the drug traffic.

• MILITARY EXPENDITURE HAS NOT REPLACED SOCIAL EXPENDITURES: military expenditures have not only not increased dramatically, but between 1998 and 2003 it has only grown by 0.8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), specified the Ministry of the Treasury. What is being done is military expenditures are being substituted for bureaucratic expenditures. Military expenditures went from 2.8 to 3.3% of the GDP in five years. Seven high mountain battalions were created, as well as 15 mobile brigades, 14 groups of urban anti-terrorist forces, 32 Gaula groups, and 54 mobile squads of mounted police. Soldiers from my Town entered 754 municipalities. There are 4,355 new marines, 20 thousand new mounted Police, 14 thousand new regular police aids, and 13 thousand new regular soldiers, for a total of 96 thousand new members of the Police and Armed Forces.

STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY

• CAPRECOM REDUCED ITS PAYROLL FROM $42 TO $19 BILLION: this achievement by the Telecommunications Retirement Fund (CAPRECOM) occurred between 2002 and 2004. Today it has only 621 workers as full-time personnel. The progress was made with the restructuring of the Social Security Institute, and changes in the worker’s contracts and in the situation with the State Social Institutions. In months to come Social Security clinics will be restructured, in order to modernize them and make the services offered more efficient. Cajanal has been in the process of making settlements for two months, and expects that the measures taken will be concluded before the deadline.

• COLOMBIA RENEWS PRODUCTION OF ANTI-SNAKE VENOM SERUM: the goal of the National Health Institute (INS) is to produce 50 thousand doses annually. A first lot of 3 thousand doses of polyvalent snake anti-venom serum will meet the needs without having to resort to imports. According to the INS, 95% of snakebite accidents in the country are from bites from the snake called “Talla Equis” and other similar snakes from the Bothrop species, and 5% are from rattlesnakes. The anti-venom is called polyvalent because it is effective on the venom of a great variety of snakes. A small percentage of snakebites, 0.05% is from coral snakes, for which the anti-venom produced is not effective, and that anti-venom must be imported from Brazil or Costa Rica.

• IN 2006 AIRPORTS WITH LIGHTING: before the end of this administration, the airports in all the capital cities of the country will have night operations, a project being carried out with an investment of close to $3 billion over the next two years. The airports of Puerto Asís and Carepa, Antioquia, will also be included in the program, because they have significant passenger traffic. This goal is an integral part of the airport plan being executed, and which caused Colombia to be recognized three months ago at the meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in Lima, as the country with the best aeronautic infrastructure in Latin America.

(FIN/JHINA/CIE)
February 25, 2005