Colombia, A Positive Country
Prepared by:
Affairs Coordinator
Internal and External Communications
Ministry of Foreign Relations
ON THE FRONT PAGE
• JUAN VALDEZ, THE MOST WIDELY
RECOGNIZED ADVERTISING ICON IN THE WORLD: the coffee growers’ symbol triumphed
in Advertising Week 2005, the Advertising competition held in
New York that is sponsored by Yahoo!, USA Today, Time Warner,
Panasonic, Infiniti, Reuters, The New York Times, and the Museum
of Television and Radio. For the last 40 years, together with
his mule Conchita, Juan Valdez has been the symbol for the National
Coffee Grower’s Federation. The triumph was obtained after
an intense campaign led by the Office of the President, the Federation,
and the media. More than 200 thousand people voted on the Internet
in recent months, to choose Juan Valdez as the most recognized
advertising icon in the world, surpassing 24 well-known brands
in the United States. It was followed by the Geico lizard and
the horses of Budweiser Beer in the voting. The growth of the
brand makes it so that a premium is paid for Colombian coffee
in the international markets, which in the end goes to the Colombian
coffee grower. Carlos Sánchez, a charismatic coffee grower
born in Fredonia, Antioquia, represents the legendary Juan Valdez,
dressed in a poncho and sombrero.
• A COLOMBIAN WON AN AWARD FROM
THE G77 FOR SCIENCE: Pedro Antonio Prieto, professor of the
Department of Physics and Astronomy
at the Universidad del Valle was a winner of the first annual
award for Science, Technology, and Innovation, which was held
during the 29th Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 and China
in New York.
• MADRID INCLUDED COLOMBIA IN
ITS COOPERATION PLAN: over
the next four years the government of the Spanish capital will
triple its budget allocated to Cooperation and Development, to
combat poverty in the world, and it included, for the first time,
Colombia and Ecuador. It budgeted 120 million Euros for this
period, oriented toward fighting the “intolerable situation” suffered
by some middle and low income countries, where some “2,500
million people live with just over a Euro a day” and “every
three seconds a death is caused by lack of food”. Eighty-seven
percent of the resources will be for development projects and
13% to raise awareness in Madrid about the need to help the third
world.
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
• INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RECEIVE
36% MORE THAN OTHER COMMUNITIES: on average, a Colombian in other
regions of the country receives
$320,000 per year in subsidies, while the government invests,
on average, $434,000 annually in an indigenous person. Thirty-three
percent of the resources are invested in the agricultural sector,
22% in education, 16% in health, 15% in housing; 10% in drinking
water, and 4% in other sectors. By law, indigenous groups receive
a percentage of the transfers made to Departments and municipalities.
• SEÑAL COLOMBIA PRESENTS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
FOR CHILDREN: Chinkana-rama, Cromo-Somos, Rutas del Saber Hacer,
and Dile Más are four new programs that will reach the
homes of Colombians through Señal Colombia Educativa y
Cultural (Señal Colombia Educational and Cultural). The
programs were created with the goal of revitalizing educational
television, according to the parameters of the Ministry of Education,
with modern formats in line with the tastes of the boys and girls
of the country, and aimed at developing the basic competencies
for each grade and area of knowledge.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT
• GDP GREW 5.3% IN THE SECOND
QUARTER OF 2005: the Colombian economy grew by 5.3% with respect to
the same quarter of 2004,
and it grew by 2.36% with respect to the quarter immediately
prior. Looking at the growth rates for the previous quarters,
variations of 4.8% were seen in the second quarter of 2004, 2.83%
in the third, 4.42% in the fourth, and 3.86% in the first quarter
of 2005, over the same quarters in the prior year. The GDP, without
illicit crops, recorded a growth of 5.38% in the second quarter
of 2005 with respect to the same period in 2004.
• MEGABANCO OFFERED TO THE COOPERATIVE
SECTOR: the President
of the Republic, Álvaro Uribe, offered to sell 95% of
Megabanco to a group made up by the Colombian cooperative sector
and allies in the international cooperative sector. The operation,
which would be carried out through Coopdesarrollo, would result
in the largest cooperative in the world, and would be a support
to small and medium-sized businesses.
• XII ROUND OF THE FTA MET COLOMBIA’S
EXPECTATIONS: the negotiation in Cartagena defined the areas
of financial services,
cross-border services, safeguards, and technical obstacles to
trade. The text established the commitment by Colombia and the
other Andean countries involved in the negotiation, integrated
into the framework of the ACN. With regard to small and medium-sized
companies, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru presented a text to the
United States that adds an analysis and follow-up on the impact
of the FTA on that sector, to be carried out by the Committee
to Administer the Agreement.
• CRUISE LINE REPRESENTATIVES
TO VISIT THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN: Representatives of the most important cruise lines in the world
will conduct training in the cities of Cartagena, Santa Marta,
and San Andrés on how to receive these travelers. It is
expected that next year more than 50 cruise ships will arrive
in Cartagena. President Álvaro Uribe made this announcement
after he met with the directors of the main cruise lines in the
world on the Island of Saint Kitts, in the framework of the FCCA
Caribbean Cruise Conference and Trade Show (United States).
STATE EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY
• COLOMBIA HOLDS 57TH PLACE ON
THE GROWTH COMPETITIVENESS INDEX: Colombia is in fifth place
among the Latin American countries,
going from 64th to 57th place. It passed Brazil, which went down
from 57th to 65th. Chile is the strongest economy in Latin America,
in position number 23, located above even the majority of the
countries of the European Union, while Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia,
and Brazil are located around the world average on the scale.
The World Economic Forum, WEF, calculates the Growth Competitiveness
Index, GCI, annually.
• ICFES EXAM IN THE CONTACT CENTER: the Colombian Institute
for Fomenting Superior Education set up a contact center 018000-110858
for the purpose of orienting more than two million users who
take the test each year across the country. It answers questions
such as how to find out your test scores, how to carry out procedures
with the Institute, and how and when to apply for the State Examination
and validations, the quality of Superior Education exams – Ecaes,
and others. Go to http://ciudadano.icfes.gov.co
• COLOMBIA CAN INFLUENCE THE
DEVELOPMENT AGENDA AT A GLOBAL LEVEL: after the selection of the Minister
of the Treasury, Alberto
Carrasquilla, as President of the Development Committee for the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, during the annual
meeting of Governors, Carrasquilla said that Colombia has an
opportunity to influence the development agenda on a global level.
His attainment of this position coincides with a good international
position experienced currently by Colombia.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
• US $100 MILLION FROM THE WORLD
BANK FOR PEACE PROGRAMS: the World Bank accepted to extend
for one year, and in the amount
of 1 billion dollars, the line of credit for special aid granted
to Colombia, and approved the use of 100 million dollars of those
resources for programs for peace carried out by the government.
The special line of credit, known as CAS (Country Assistance
Strategy), was approved in 2002 in the amount of US $3.3 billion,
available until June 2006. The resources can be used to finance
projects that work toward three objectives: developing sustained
economic growth, sharing the results of growth, and building
an efficient, responsible, and transparent governance.
September 30, 2005.
(FIN/JHINA/HM/CIE)
