| COLOMBIA, A POSITIVE COUNTRY
Prepared by:
Coordination of Internal and External
Communication Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• COLOMBIA,
PARTICIPATING IN THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS: the members
of the Colombian delegation to represent the country in the 12th
Special Olympic Games Athens 2004 were given the national flag
by the Government. Colombia’s participation in the utmost
world encounter of athletes with physical, mental and hearing limitations
is represented by five athletes in three disciplines. In order
to represent the country in this international event, the National
Government contributed $130 million in resources through the Colombian
Sports Institute, Coldeportes. This version of the Games will take
place starting on September 17 for a total of 11 days of competitions
with athletes from 141 nations participating in 19 sports disciplines.
• PARTICIPATION
IN THE 2005 CENSUS DEFINED: the National Government regulated the participation
of the teachers and students
of public schools in the 17th National Population Census and the
6th Housing Census that will be conducted on May 22, 2005. Decree
2740 issued by the Ministry of Education determined the tasks that
will be carried out before and on the day of the census to compile
data, and the compensatory day they will be given for having cooperated
in the event. The executives, teachers and students of Grades 8
through 11 of all public schools from the preschool, basic primary
and secondary and higher levels of education, and the boards of
education of provinces, districts and towns will help out in conducting
the census.
SOCIAL EQUALITY
• NEW TECHNOLOGIES: US $30 million in resources will be
invested by the company Colombia Telecomunicaciones over the next
three years to expand Telecom’s new Internet service. During
the first phase, US $3 million will be invested in modernizing
and increasing infrastructure for the state-owned company to provide
Internet access to the inhabitants of 930 towns in the country.
Beneficiaries will be able to choose from the following plans:
Surfer Plan, Youth Plan, Late-night Plan, Plans by the Hour, Small
Company Plan and the Plan 4321, where the user will only pay for
the minutes he/she is connected with no contract. In addition,
the company will offer the Internet service on demand in 38 cities
throughout the country.
• TRANSPORTATION
FOR BARRANQUILLA AND VALLE DE ABURRÁ: the Social and Economic Policy Council (Conpes for its initials
in Spanish) has given permission to proceed to the integrated mass
transport systems of Barranquilla and Valle de Aburrá. The
Conpes approved the documents of project organization submitted
by the National Planning Department and the Ministries of Transportation
and the Treasury, in which both the Nation and the towns will participate.
In the case of Barranquilla, the project consists of two phases
in which 25.5 kilometers will be constructed. The Metroplus will
be developed for the Valle de Aburrá, whose total cost is
estimated at $284 billion, $220 billion of which will be used for
infrastructure and the financial costs of the project. The operative
costs including buses, workshops and the control center adding
up to $63.339 million will be assumed in their entirety by private
investors, while the nation will contribute $148.158 million, Medellín
$44.492 million, Itaguí $12.960 million and Envigado $9.195
million.
• THE GOVERNMENT
IS COMING THROUGH FOR RANGER FAMILIES: up to now, the Government has invested $78.764
billion in resources
to finance payments for the Ranger Families program of the Plan
Colombia. The social program consists of 21,175 families that have
signed collective contracts, while 18,349 have signed individual
contracts. The Government would like to sign up 50 thousand families
during the four-year period to take care of the ecosystem and do
away with and prevent illegal crops in exchange for a compensation
of $5 million per family per year.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND GENERATING EMPLOYMENT
• PERFORMANCE
OF INFLATION: the lowest
inflation rate in 7 years was reported last August at 0.03%,
while it had risen 0.31%
in August 2003. Between January and August, the Consumer Price
Index (IPC for its initials in Spanish) was located at 4.59%, the
lowest level in the last 34 years. During the first eight months
of 2004, the cost of living reached 4.59%, while during the same
period of 2004, it was 5.18%; in 2002, it was 4.92%; in 2001, it
was 6.57% and in 2000, it was 7.25%. The National Statistics Department
(DANE for its initials in Spanish) pointed out that in August,
the price of food performed well, dropping 0.01%. In a whole year
measured between August 2003 and August 2004, inflation was reported
at 5.89%. Between 2002 and 2003, it was 7.26%.
• PROFITS IN
ENERGY COMPANIES: the Social and Economic Policy
Council (Conpes for its initials in Spanish) approved the allocation
of $1.48 billion to the Nation, corresponding to the financial
surplus and profits reported in 2003 by public establishments,
industrial and commercial companies and joint stock companies.
Using these resources, the Government will cover different needs
as for education, health and social expenditures, without affecting
the institutional capacity and operation of the organizations.
The transfers from the profits of financial and non-financial corporations
add up to $1.22 billion. Among these resources, it is important
to point out those coming from Ecopetrol for $1.1 billion, as well
as Interconexión Eléctrica (ISA), for $54.669 billion.
• MORE SECURITY
FOR INVESTORS: the
World Bank said that Colombia and Slovakia are the two countries
that have made the
most progress over the last year in improving the atmosphere for
investors, and Colombia has been classified as the second country
to implement reforms. In Colombia, the registration of new companies
has increased by 16% between 2003 and 2004 after simplifying application
requirements. The 10 most active countries last year in the implementation
of reforms to improve the investment atmosphere were Slovakia,
Colombia, Belgium, Finland, India, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal
and Spain. Of the 58 countries that reformed their regulations
for business activities or toughened copyright protection over
the last year, only six are from Latin America and the first of
them is Colombia.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• PUTTING DOWN
THEIR WEAPONS: so far during this Administration,
6,234 members of armed groups outside the law have voluntarily
demobilized. According to the figures of the Demobilized Humanitarian
Attention Program (Pahd for its initials in Spanish), 1,042 of
the demobilized group are from the mass demobilization of the Cacique
Nutibara Block of the Illegal Armed Paramilitary groups in Medellín.
The others have taken place individually as follows: 2,867 from
the Farc, 1,355 from the AUC, 789 from the ELN and 181 from dissidence
groups.
• BALANCE OF
EXTRADITIONS: with the
authorization of five more extraditions, two to Spain and three
to the United States,
the number of Colombians and foreigners extradited during the Administration
of Alvaro Uribe Velez has added up to 208, 179 of which have been
extradited to the United States, seven to Spain, four to Peru,
four to Italy, three to Canada, three to Argentina, three to France,
one to Panama, one to Brazil, one to Belgium, one to Denmark and
another to Venezuela. Over this same period, the Government has
rejected seven extraditions, two of which were requested by the
United States, two by France, one by Panama, one by Peru and one
by Spain. Most of the extraditions have been authorized for drug
trafficking.
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• SERVICE FOR
CO-NATIONALS IN SPAIN: the Colombian Embassy in Spain has pledged to establish the people,
equipment and systems
required by the different consulates in the country to ease the
paperwork that has to be processed by Colombians to apply for their
documents and, thus, regularize their immigration status in the
country. In this regard, the Spanish government accepted the proposal
to review the Migratory Flow Agreement in order to expedite it,
establishing that only Colombians who have resided in Spain for
a considerable period will be able to apply for this process. Those
who are currently living in Colombia will have to wait for the
migratory flow agreements to advance in order to return to the
Iberian country by means of this agreement, with a contract in
the country of origin and with all the rights and obligations of
a resident with authorization to reside in Spain.
(FIN/PCO/CIE)
September 10, 2004
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