Colombia is the Latin American country with the greatest economic development prospects for 2007, according to projections made by ECLAC, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. In recent years, the country - once considered the most violent on the continent - embarked on a development program that covered economic, social and environmental areas, in an effort to get on the path to sustainability.
Considering the advances of this country, and in advance of his visit to Chile for the Ibero-American Heads of State Summit in November 2007, President Alvaro Uribe spoke with BNamericas’ Eva Medalla about current and future projects in Colombia.
What are Colombia’s priorities for regional integration by developing transportation infrastructure?
We believe that the development of the Pacific ports and the Darién highway are very important. That treasure [the surrounding jungle] cannot be isolated from the community’s point of view. It is easier to guard ecological treasures with minimum infrastructure that allows [a human] presence than taking care of ecological treasures by keeping them isolated and abandoned. We are also working on projects through the South American regional infrastructure integration initiative (IIRSA) and the Plan Puebla-Panamá regional initiative.
You recently announced the concession of six airports. In which other projects do you believe private investment is important for development?
In Colombia, we stand behind a state model that guarantees and protects private investment in all sectors, but demands social responsibility. We don’t believe in the nationalization or the dismantling of the state. We believe in a community state, a state with high citizen participation that guarantees private investment with social responsibility. Responsibility that is translated into the transparency of the relationship between the investor and the state, investor solidarity with communities, and work relationships which cannot be ruled by wild capitalism nor by class, but by a Christian fraternity. We promote private participation in sectors such as public services, infrastructure and hydrocarbons, to name a few examples.
What has been your experience, as president, in the process of bringing development closer to all inhabitants? Has this facilitated investment and/or financing?
We believe in a virtuous circle: security guarantees private investment and this, along with social responsibility, allows us to move forward in social cohesion, which is what justifi es security.
We have worked in a number of areas in order to promote investment.
First and foremost on democratic security; also, our state model - a state that creates opportunities for all investment, [but] demanding social responsibility in return. Further, the tax incentives we created in 2002 and 2003, which were only temporary, were made permanent. We created taxfree zones and special zones, jurisdictional stability agreements and measures to improve the country’s physical and financial health. All of this has generated investment trust and has enabled Colombia to be in better conditions to resist the pressures of international crises.
Investment increases have allowed us to have sustained economic growth. In 2002, our GDP grew by 2.3%, by 4% in 2003, by 5% in 2004, by 4.7% in 2005, 6.9% in 2006; and by 7.6% during the fi rst half of this year (2007).
