The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs talked about her country’s cooperation ideas with Hungary and the Visegradi Four at a round-table discussion organized by the Antall József Knowledge Centre at Corvinus University on Friday. In her presentation in English, Ms. Patti Londoño, besides placing her country in Latin America and the world from geographical, geopolitical and economic policy point of view, emphasized: Colombia deliberately aims to diversify its economy and international relations. At present their most important economic and commercial partner is the United States. However, being a member of several international organizations, recently the country has turned its interest to Europe and Asia as well.
According to the politician (photo) the South American country is following the policy of opening, thus they have been making free trade contracts with more and more countries: agreements have been made with all the countries on the American continent except for Costa Rica but recently they have made contact, among others, with Japan, Israel, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, New-Zealand, and Qatar too.
She stressed out that although there are ideological differences within the continent; Colombia is seeking after good relations with its neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador, and with all those who aim at the cooperation and mutual development of the continent. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs especially welcomed that this year the presidency of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) is taken by Cuba and they took over from Chile which is a bit far from Cuba from the ideological point of view.
A new chapter in the Colombian opening process, as she said, is the EU-Peru-Colombia multilateral commercial agreement waiting for ratification at present. According to ex-ante evaluations, thanks to the agreement with the EU, the GDP of Colombia will increase by 1,3 percent.
In her presentation Ms. Patti Londoño said: the companies arriving in the country are welcomed with stability, security and the prominent protection of business interests. It will be easier for EU companies to get into the market, especially in the processing industry, the service sectors (financial, professional, transportation and telecommunication), energy generation and mining sectors. Moreover, the EU agreement opens profitable prospects for the car- and car-parts industry, the chemical industry, the textile industry, telecommunication device producers and the pharmaceutical industry too.
It is also an important factor that the companies are offered the same preferences as local enterprises.
Although, based on its size, Hungary could only be a province in Colombia; they are counting on Hungarian businesses in several areas, said Ms. Patti Londoño Jaramillo. There are market gaps in the food industry and in infrastructural development, which could be filled by Hungarian companies.
In Colombia, according to the decision of the government, significant infrastructural investments can be expected, e.g. the development of water, rail and overland transport, and on these areas Hungarian professionals have considerable expertise. They are expecting Hungarian companies especially in the field of water management since the Latin American country is incredibly rich in waters but conduit and waterborne transport lags behind the possibilities. Among important sectors she also mentioned mining where workers specialized in survey, geology and other engineering jobs are needed. (latimoport)
