By showing its attractive business environment in Colombia for the Seoul Diplomatic Corps., new accredited Colombia envoy Juan Carlos Caiza Rosero focused on ‘Why invest in Colombia’ rather than general significance of usual Independence Day through its Bicentennial Anniversary of Colombia Independence Day, held in a downtown hotel Seoul on July 23rd evening.

First of all, regarding its attractive business environment, Rosero showed through a video that during the last decades, Colombia has been characterized by its political stability and firm respect for private ownership and initiative. In terms of a reliable partner, Colombia positioned itself as the fourth friendliest destination in Latin America to do business according to Doing Business 2018.

Interconnected with the world, Rosero stressed: “Colombia has more than 16 trade agreements in force, enabling preferential access to more than 60 countries and nearly 1,500 million consumers across markets including the United States, the European Union, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica and South Korea; with new markets to be added soon, like Israel and Panama, with which Colombia has signed agreements”.

In addition to its skilled labour, Colombia is betting on innovation as a cross-cutting component for the transformation of products and services that generate added value and skilled employment and Government entities are focusing their efforts on creating new sources of growth through the development of non-traditional sectors such as the creative industries, tourism, textiles, handicrafts, and design, according to new accredited Colombia Amb.

Concerning the Government’s commitment to development, Colombia has a National Development Plan that addresses the country's primary needs and designs and implements an action plan to achieve continuous growth and competitiveness. Peace, education, and social equity are the government's key pillars. Moreover, The Productive Transformation Program (PTP) promotes the productivity and competitiveness of 22 economic sectors with high export potential through a more efficient coordination in addition to its competitive legal framework.

Colombia Amb. address to mark Colombia National Day consisted of first, today’s Colombia, secondly Colombia’s pledge, thirdly both countries’ cooperation relations, and last but not least culture cooperations message.

Touching upon the official visit of Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon to Colombia on May 6th, this year, Deputy Minister Yoon Soon-gu from MOFAT mentioned: “A friend who helps in difficult times, is a real friend”, saying that Colombia is the sole country in Latin America which dispatched their soldiers over 5,000 peoples during the Korean War, the foundation of long friendship & cooperations between the two countries.