COLOMBIA, A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
· EVERYTHING ON THE FTAA: with the
beginning of the negotiations for the Free Trade Americas Agreement
between Colombia, Peru, and
Ecuador, and the United States, the Press Secretary for the Presidency
of the Republic has established a special web site dedicated to
this issue. Its address is http://www.presidencia.gov.co/tlc/archivo.htm.
The government invites consultations to obtain information related
to the negotiations that have begun in Cartagena.
· A SHRIMP KNOWS A SHRIMP: for the ninth consecutive year
Colombia was present at the most important trade fair for seafood,
and, once again, it sold its entire production, and obtained recognition
for the quality of its products, especially for the shrimp distributed
in France, Italy, and England. Using the methodology of a strategic
alliance between Cartagena Shrimp Co. and the French company Miti,
the Shrimp industry’s product exhibited at the event received
the Prize for the most Practical Product for its gourmet shrimp.
It is already foreseen that the total value of transactions this
year will be greater than the previous year, since not only were
the relationships with current clients reaffirmed, but also new
contacts were established with distributors in Belgium, Germany,
and the Czech Republic.
SOCIAL EQUITY
· GOOD RESULTS: thanks to the 5,179
new spots created by private universities on the Caribbean Coast
last year, the government
increased the number of credits available through ICETEX for financing
superior education in the region. Another strategy being developed
for the Coastal region by the President is the implementation of
three community centers for superior education, with which it is
foreseen that coverage will be increased, especially in rural regions,
by means of virtual study programs. According to the Quality Examinations
in 2003, public universities produced superior results to those
of the private institutions. These educational tests were used
to evaluate students across the country in their last semester
in 26 areas of study.
· GUARANTEES FOR DISPLACED PERSONS: with the delivery of
720 identification cards in Cúcuta, the process of providing
identification for displaced persons was begun in the country.
The government’s goal from here to July is to issue a total
of 100 thousand identity cards, and to make available slightly
over 100 thousand new training spots this year to displaced persons.
It is expected that this year 2,400 people will be trained, a figure
far greater than the 400 that attended Sena the previous year in
Norte de Santander. Of those 2,400 beneficiaries, 400 will be trained
with the support of Sena, and 2,000 by the Fondo Financiero de
Proyectos de Desarrollo (Financial Fund for Development Projects) —FONADE—.
· ENCOURAGING BALANCE: an increase greater than 12% in
classroom attendance for young Colombians in urban zones, between
the ages of 14 and 17, was achieved by the Presidential Program
Familias en Acción (Families in Action). The initiative
is making an important impact on its three components — nutrition,
health, and education — thanks to the subsidies provided.
In the health sector, the program has reduced by 10.2% the probability
that children under six years of age will suffer severe diarrheal
disease in the urban zones. The incidence of severe respiratory
infections has also decreased by 8.4 percentage points among urban
children.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
· MORE JOBS: so far in President Uribe’s term, 200
thousand jobs have been generated in Colombia. The President’s
purpose is to maintain and extend the reactivation of employment
in the country, by means of strategies that combine reforms and
incentives to employability, training in order to increase access
to the market, support for entrepreneurs, and reactivation by sectors.
· PENSIONS FOR TEACHERS: with the
resources from a budget addition of $200 billion Colombian pesos
from the Ministry of Education,
destined for the Fondo Nacional de Prestaciones del Magisterio
(National Fund for Teachers Benefits), the government paid 4,361
teachers the prepaid pension payments owed since 1997. By means
of the Democratic Security Policy, the government has made an effort
to offer necessary guarantees to insure the integrity of Colombian
teachers, with greater efforts in critical areas such as Arauca,
Putumayo, Norte de Santander, Cesar and Caqueta.
· FIRST FRUITS: One thousand hectares
of Oil Palm planted in the municipality of Maria la Baja, Bolivar,
are ready to enter
into production. Between the Canal del Dique and Montes de Maria,
173 farmers sowed 135 thousand Palm seedlings thanks to an alternative
development project that was undertaken with the help of Plan Colombia.
It is foreseen that this project, which began in 2001, will be
widened and will benefit another 83 Palm-farming families in the
region. The cost of this growth, financed by Plan Colombia, is
$965 million Colombian Pesos.
· ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT: investments of $104,470 million
Colombian pesos to promote the start-up of 56 productive projects
for the cultivation of cacao, rubber, yucca, fruits, coffee, heart
of palm, pepper, vanilla, oil palm, and medicinal plants, have
been made by the government. The investments have benefited 32,449
families across the country, which planted 25,809 hectares of different
products. The projects are being carried out in the Departments
of Caqueta, Huila, Guainía, Vichada, Meta, Nariño,
Cesar, Putumayo, Santander, Tolima, Guaviare, Cauca, Bolivar, Cesar
and Norte de Santander. The Presidential Council reported that
of the total resources invested in the program, $68,042 million
Colombian pesos have been contributed by the Agency for International
Development — AID — and $36,428 million by the national
government.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
· LAYING DOWN THEIR WEAPONS: so far in the month of May,
121 members have individually demobilized from the illegal armed
groups. The group with the greatest demobilization is the FARC
with 71 desertions. The United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia
follow with 35, the ELN with 13, and dissident groups with 2. Antioquia,
with 19 cases, is the Department in which the most people have
deserted this month, followed by Cauca with 14, Chocó with
11, and Tolima and Meta with 9 each. Year to date, 935 people have
left the ranks of the illegal armed groups.
EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY OF THE STATE
· JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY: the government
of the United States gave Colombia a check for US$13 million
dollars that had belonged
to the drug trafficker Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. The money will
be invested in programs aimed at strengthening democracy and justice
in Colombia. Of those resources, US$400 thousand will be destined
to diffusion and training in Human Rights and IHL, through the
Vice Presidency of the Republic. This money will allow public officials
who work in the areas of Human Rights and IHL to be trained in
the Observatory of the Vice Presidency. The Minister of the Interior
and Justice will use the money received in benefit of essential
programs in Colombia, such as the operations against illicit drugs,
and the strengthening of the infrastructure of the prison system
in the country. It is planned that the funds will be used for the
construction, remodeling, and equipping of Colombian prisons.
