| COLOMBIA, A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• TRADE FORUM
IN MIAMI SURPASSED US$110 MILLION: The second
annual meeting of this trade conference with the United States,
called Proexport Colombia, was a complete success and surpassed
all expectations. At the close of the event, Colombian businessmen
reported deals for more than 110 million dollars, a figure much
higher than the 56.3 million dollars recorded for the first event,
held last year. As Luis Guillermo Plata, President of Proexport,
explained, it is foreseen that these deals will be closed within
a year, according to the agreements made. “What is important,
however, is not this figure, but the fact that we were able to
arrange meetings between Colombian businesses and buyers from the
United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, with an average of 18 appointments
each one, for a total of 5,143 business meetings”, said Plata.
• COLOMBIA CERTIFIED: the government of the United Sates
certified before the Congress of that country that the Administration
of President Álvaro Uribe and the Armed Forces of Colombia
are complying with legal criteria relative to the protection of
human rights, a requirement imposed by US law in order to release
military aid. The process is verified in two stages. In each one,
12.5% of the aid is released. For fiscal year 2004, approximately
US$195 million is already committed (a figure that is equal to
75% of the US aid for this period). This certification allowed
for the US$32.5 million corresponding to 12.5% of the total aid,
to be committed to Colombia. A second evaluation is required to
commit the remaining 12.5%.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• INVESTMENT
IN HOUSING: close to
8 thousand Colombian families have become new home owners by
means of housing loans provided
by the National Savings Fund (FNA) to its members. These credits
have been set aside for acquiring new or used housing, to pay off
a mortgage, or to build on a lot owned by the member, or his or
her spouse. The social investment made by the Fund in 2004 reached
$293 billion pesos, distributed as follows: $255 billion corresponding
to housing loans from the FNA, and $38 billion to the savings of
prepaid severance payments of the beneficiary members.
• OVERCOMING
HUNGER AND POVERTY: with the Declaración
de Bogotá (Bogotá Declaration), 16 countries in Latin
America and the Caribbean supported the efforts made by the Colombian
government, and recognized the importance of cooperation between
developing countries to eradicate hunger and poverty. This declaration,
signed within the framework of the “Regional Seminar on the
Development of Capacities oriented toward South-South Cooperation”,
consists of eleven points, among which the need was emphasized
for the countries with medium earnings, such as Colombia, to continue
accessing the resources available from Official Development Aid,
and to expedite technical transfers.
• ISS MEETS
GOAL FOR AFFILIATIONS: the EPS for the Institute of Social Security had compensated,
at the close of July 2004,
a total of 2,620,624 affiliates. This means that out of an estimated
3,133,074 active affiliates, it obtained a compensation level of
83.64%, surpassing the goal of 83% proposed for the entire year.
To fulfill this goal, the Social Security administration has put
in motion diverse projects, oriented toward cleaning up and updating
the affiliation database, improving the application time for the
magnetic media of large-scale employers, and negotiating with multi
affiliated users.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• THE ECONOMY
GREW 4.47% IN THE SECOND QUARTER: the economy
has continued along a growth path, and in the second quarter of
the year a growth of 4.47 percent was recorded with respect to
the same period in 2003. According to the National Administrative
Department of Statistics (DANE) this was the increase in the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of the country between April and June of
2004, without illicit crops. The figure drops to 4.32% when illicit
crops are taken into account, which also reflects the decisive
war on drugs engaged in by the national government. Upon analyzing
this growth from the demand side, the increase is noteworthy in
gross capital formation (18.08%), in exports (9.01%) and in end
consumption (3.33%). According to the DANE, the growth of the economy
in the second quarter was led by almost all the sectors of the
country’s economy, but especially by construction and the
manufacturing sector, which recorded significant increases of 9.26%
and 6.25%, respectively.
• JUAN VALDEZ,
EXPORTATION QUALITY: the National Federation
of Colombian Coffee Growers inaugurated the second Juan Valdez
coffee shop in the United States, located right in downtown Manhattan
in New York. At the store, visitors can enjoy organic coffee and
special coffees, additional attractions besides the aroma of the
traditional suave coffee of Colombia. This shop is the second in
the United States after the one that was opened last September
13th in Washington. The government’s goal is to locate at
least 300 stores in the main capitals of the world over the next
three years.
• RESOURCES
FOR A TUNNEL FOR THE LINE: The Andes Corporation
for Promotion (CAF) approved a credit of 32 million dollars to
finance the construction of a pilot tunnel for the project to communicate
the port of Buenaventura with Bogotá, reported the organization
headquartered in Caracas. This project, called Tunnel for the Line,
will have a total cost estimated at 279 million dollars. The Chief
Executive Officer of CAF, the Bolivian Enrique García, emphasized
the “integrating” character of the project, because
it will facilitate exchanges between the central Colombian zone,
particularly Bogotá, the eastern zone, and the western part
of Venezuela, with the vast market in the Pacific.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• STRUGGLE AGAINST
THE SELF DEFENSE GROUPS: during the administration
of President Álvaro Uribe, the number of members of the
illegal self defense groups captured increased by 279.7%, going
from 1,864 captured between July 2000 and July 2002, to 7,078 between
August 2002 and August 2004. In the same way, the number of self
defense casualties increased by 209.8%, going from 266 to 824,
in the same time period. To this is added the fact that there are
now 1,355 members of these groups who have individually joined
the demobilization and reinsertion process. Another 1, 042 members
have handed themselves in as groups.
• GOVERNMENT
COMES THROUGH FOR DEMOBILIZED MILITIA: as of last week the national government has paid more
than $1,900 million
in benefits to 161 demobilized militia members, who, when they
laid down their weapons, gave key information to the authorities.
Over the last twelve months, the Executive branch has paid out
close to $3,500 million to 500 people who have reincorporated into
civilian life. In the Uribe government, 6,376 members of terrorist
groups have given up their weapons.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• FOR PUBLIC
HOUSING: the national
government, by means of Decree 3111 of 2004, established that
national public institutions
of a non-financial nature, who have urban lots that would be appropriate
for public housing, must transfer them to Fonvivienda so that the
institution can hand them over as a subsidiary in kind, giving
priority to the most vulnerable Colombian households. The measure
allows the institution to broaden the coverage of beneficiaries
of the VIS (Public Housing) policy, to efficiently take advantage
of certain unproductive assets of the Nation, and to contribute
in a significant way to meeting the goal of generating 400 thousand
housing solutions for public housing during the four-year term.
• MEASURES AGAINST
CONTRABAND: between
January and September of this year, the value of confiscated
contraband merchandise increased
by 28.5% over the same period in 2003. The Tax and Customs Department
(DIAN) reported that the value of the captures went from $89 billion
to $114.5 billion and that the number of operations giving rise
to captures of merchandise grew by 44%, going from 9,480 to 13,629
between January and September of 2004, in comparison to the same
time period last year. According to the DIAN, so far in 2004, 9.1
control actions and 2.3 captures have taken place every hour.
(FIN/PCO/CIE)
October 1, 2004
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