COLOMBIA,
A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• ON THE ROAD TO ATHENS: Fifty-nine Colombian athletes
will attend the Olympic games in Athens, held from August 14 – 20.
Seven athletes in Taekwondo, Track, and Swimming received the
national flag from the government in representation of the national
team. In order to support the Colombian athletes, the executive
branch, through the Colombian Sports Institute, Coldeportes,
provided resources this year in the amount of $1,600 million
Colombian pesos. In addition to government resources, the Colombian
Olympic Committee has received contributions from private businesses.
• GOVERNMENT OVERVIEW ONLINE: last July 17th the national
government presented an overview of President Álvaro Uribe
Vélez’s administration’s efforts during the
last two years. If you missed any of the details from the Ministers’ Public
Council, you can get them online at the following address: http://www.presidencia.gov.co/ministrosII/informe.htm.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• FNG BACKS CREDITS: in the first semester of 2004, the ‘Fondo
Nacional de Garantías’ (National Guarantee Fund)
(FNG) backed credits for $803,531 million pesos, showing an increase
of 46% over the same period in 2003. The loans made by the financial
institutions of the country benefited 55,959 users, showing an
increase over the first semester of 2003 of 60% in terms of the
number of beneficiaries. While the average loan amount from January
to June of this year was $14.4 million, in comparison with $15.7
million last year, the loans made by the financial institutions
in the business sector with FNG coverage during this time were
as high as $782,091 million pesos, in benefit of 52,300 productive
units.
• STUDY ABROAD: The OAS and the governments of England
and Germany, through Icetex, are offering international scholarships
to participate in the following programs: The Twenty-second Iberian
American Correspondence Course that will be based in Madrid during
the second semester of 2004 (invitation closes August 18th);
The Virtual Course “How to teach Ethics, Social Capital
and Development in the University” (August 4th); Masters
in Business Administration, in Information and Technology, in
Engineering on the Internet, and in Computer Science (September
28th); and a course on “The Sustainable Use of Primary
Coastal and Maritime Resources, Advanced Training” (August
3rd). For further information see: www.icetex.gov.co or call
01(900) 331-3777.
• IDB RESOURCES FOR SOCIAL INVESTMENT
AND INFRASTRUCTURE: the InterAmerican Development Bank, IDB,
will approve credits
for Colombia this year for close to a billion dollars, resources
that will go basically toward infrastructure projects and social
programs. Of that amount, during 2004, between US$350 and US$400
million will be disbursed according to progress of the different
operations that are financed by those loans. To date in this
administration, seven loans have been approved in the amount
of US$1,914 million, the majority for social programs.
• SPECIAL RATES FOR ENERGY: energy costs could be lowered
by close to 60% for users located in the poorest sectors of the
country. For that purpose, the government will transfer $10 billion
pesos to the ‘Fondo de Energía Social‘ (Social
Energy Fund) (FOES). According to Law 812, this is a relief measure
that is over and above the legal subsidy already established,
and in addition to the norm that indicates that the maximum increase
in subsistence consumption for levels 1 and 2 is equal to inflation.
Currently the FOES has $118 billion pesos, and expects to increase
the amount to be distributed by another $60 billion in 2004.
• TRAINING FOR LIFE: Two Hundred
and Eighty-nine members of the Police and Armed Forces who
are wounded in combat, as
well as many widows and orphans of uniformed personnel who died
in action, graduated from schools that give training in productive
activities, and some received diplomas for finishing elementary
school and high school. Of those who graduated, 88 completed
their basic education, 82 specialized in computer science, 9
entered the work force, 24 specialized in clothing manufacturing,
19 in the bakery industry, 13 in the management and handling
of milk products, 15 in metalworking, and 39 in life projects
and human development.
• QUALITY OF LIFE FOR INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES: thanks to the
first phase of the regional project “Improvement of environmental
conditions in indigenous communities”, developed in Colombia
between 1999 and 2003, 250 families belonging to three indigenous
communities from the Wayuu tribe in La Guajira, and from a Waunaan
reserve in Chocó, received the benefit of access to good
quality water, basic health services, and education in hygiene.
• HOUSING SUBSIDIES: the government opened the application
process for the projects selected for the “Concurso de
Esfuerzo Territorial” (Territorial Effort Contest), by
means of which 6,873 housing subsidies will be assigned, in the
amount of $50,352 million pesos, in 108 municipalities spread
across 29 Departments. The families in the participating towns
have until August 19th to turn in an application to the appropriate
family financial institution in their Departments. For more information
talk to those financial institutions, check out the web page
http://www.minambiente.gov.co/, or call 01 (800) 091-9301 at
the Ministry of the Environment.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• FTA WILL GENERATE EMPLOYMENT: investigations by the “Corporación
para el Desarrollo de la Investigación y la Docencia Económica” (Corporation
for the Development of Economic Research and Teaching), CIDE,
revealed that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United
States would generate 270 thousand new jobs for skilled and unskilled
workers, and that unemployment would decrease by nearly 2 points
in urban areas. Even if that effect is considered temporary,
the prediction for 10 years describes a decrease in the unemployment
rate from 15.1 to 12.9%, a decrease in the national debt of 6.2
to 4.8%, and an increase of 8% in exports and 11% in imports.
• VISITS TO THE LOS NEVADOS PARK
HAVE TRIPLED: the number of people who have visited Los Nevados
national park increased
from 17 thousand in 2001 to 53,747 this year to date. While in
2001 the park was visited by 17 thousand people, generating income
of $142 million pesos, in 2003 the figure increased to 46,895
visitors, producing an income over $278 million. This year the
visitors have produced $346 million pesos of income for the park.
• CONVERSION TO NATURAL GAS VEHICLES: in the first six months of this year, 7,565 cars have been
converted to Compressed
Natural Gas (CNG), thus meeting 75.65% of the government goal
of transforming 10 thousand vehicles. From August 2002 to June
2004, 22,395 vehicles have been converted to CNG. The goal for
the 4-year term of the President is 40,000 cars.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• DEMOBILIZATION FIGURES GROWING: this month, 200 members
of the illegal armed groups have voluntarily demobilized, including
39 minors and 34 women. The illegal armed group that lost the
most members through demobilization in July was the FARC, with
114 desertions, followed by the AUC with 61, the ELN with 20,
and dissident groups with 5. The Departments that reported the
greatest number of desertions in July were: Antioquia (with 35),
Casanare (23), Caquetá (20), Meta (15) and Cundinamarca
(14). Year to date 1,543 members of illegal armed groups have
individually turned themselves in, and the total figure for the
current administration is 4,811.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• GOVERNMENT SAVINGS: the
national government saved $143,575 million Colombian pesos in the first
quarter of this year by
streamlining personnel in all the institutions in the national
executive branch. Specifically, from August 2002 to March of
2004 the government has saved $616,196 million pesos. The savings
goal for this year is $154,947 million. The operating expenses
of the central and decentralized sectors of the Executive branch,
without taking into account the Defense sector, decreased by
7.7% in real terms in 2003 compared with the prior year, while
until May of 2004, there was a decrease of 13.5%, in comparison
with the first quarter of the previous year. In the first phase
of the government reform, 142 institutions were redesigned: 99
were modified, 6 created, 3 divided, 30 liquidated, and 4 merged.
(FIN/PCO/CIE)
July 30, 2004
