Getting In On The Profitable Investment Opportunities In Colombia

   Like every Country in the world there is a boom stage of development that occurs in it's history, this brings fantastic business opportunities to savy investors and entrepeanures
   

Contributed Articles                                                                      

Making  Huge Returns In A BOOMING  Market  

                                  
      Currently there is  a real estate explosion  that is occurring in Colombia ! All the  major cities are experiencing a  construction explosion and North  American urbanization has come to Colombia.  In  every city throughout  Colombia, luxury apartment complexes, gorgeous planned  communities  are sprouting up everywhere and they all have one thing in common,  expensive !  Prices have sky-rocketed and more than doubled in  the last two  years !  This has made many Colombians and foreign  investors huge profits in the  various sectors of real estate investment  and construction. 
     Middle class Yuppies are here and they are  buying up  everything built and imported,  cars, electronics and real estate  !    As the middle class expansion occurs all major cities, Bogota,  Medellin,  Cali  and Cartagena, are experiencing a financial boom  in all retail sectors.   Although there is still a far separation  from middle to poor class, the middle  class expansion in cities  like Medellin, a major Manufacturing city in Colombia   has provided  many savy investors with huge profit margins dealing in this real  estate market boom. 

Colombia should be viewed as an excellent country for U.S. business thanks to factors such as improvement security, continued prudent management of the country's economy and a new free trade agreement with the United States.   Joseph Finnin is the executive director of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce. He wrote this column for Latin Business Chronicle.   A s the AmCham in Colombia, our outlook for business with Colombia is extremely optimistic. One reason for this opinion has to do with the conditions and issues that companies look at when considering doing business in a country. Colombia is a country with: ·  A continued improvement in security. ·  A continued prudent management of the country's economy. ·  A continued decrease in unemployment. ·  Respect for IPR and other issues of great importance to     investors. ·  A continued increase in international reserves, now close to     $15 billion. ·  The largest GDP growth in the last ten years - 5.13 percent for     2005. ·  An increase of 29 percent in FDI in 2005. ·  A continued stable democratic government. ·  A fiscal deficit (private & public) of 0 percent in 2005. ·  A stable local currency. All of the aforementioned factors will, in all certainty, continue through 2006 and beyond.  In addition to those, there are other factors that will help boost the Colombian economy, bring about greater security for the business community and tremendous new opportunities are in the works. Trade facilitation, tax reforms and the FTA with the United States provide new opportunities for US companies in Colombia. Colombia Business: Positive Outlook

One of the issues that the Colombian government has been analyzing in an effort to make the country and its businesses more competitive and efficient has been the area of Trade Facilitation. The government's 2019 plan of action for the country's internal agenda focuses on the need to improve roads, ports, and airports, reduce red tape and the time it takes to nationalize or export goods. In addition to trade facilitation, there is a serious discussion regarding a comprehensive tax reform that will actually reduce corporate taxes.

On February 27, 2006 Colombia finalized the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, the other major issue which will affect businesses. Amongst the future steps to be taken to achieve implementation of the agreement will be the approval on the part of the Colombian and U.S. Congress as well as the Constitutional Court in Colombia.

G iven all of these factors, it is easy to see why Colombia should be viewed as an excellent country for U.S. business. Colombia continues to move in the positive direction that businesses look for and that some other countries, frankly, are not offering.

Perhaps the most important factor that U.S. and other multinational companies are looking at is Colombia's reputation as a country that provides well trained professionals and skilled workers.

Because of what has already been taking place and what is planned for the future in Colombia, some companies from the U.S. and other countries have already decided that Colombia is the place to do business. These companies are seeing that their businesses can grow within Colombia and in the rest of the region by having a physical presence in the country and using Colombia as a strategic place to provide, produce or purchase products or services. They are seeing great opportunities through the creation of strategic alliances with local companies to benefit from well established local brands, distribution systems and loyal customers.

Perhaps the most important factor that U.S. and other multinational companies are looking at is Colombia's reputation as a country that provides well-trained professionals and skilled workers, a country that has demonstrated respect for foreigners and foreign investment, and a country that is one of Latin America's oldest democracies with a history of strong institutions.  

Those who look towards the future also see that the FTA with the United States will require clear rules of the game that will protect investors and others as well.

For all of these reasons, among many others, the outlook for U.S. business with Colombia is excellent and an opportunity that should not be overlooked.

Colombia's First Ethanol Plant Opens
     

     The New Year celebrations seem to have started a little earlier for the Pune-based Praj Industries Ltd, solution providers for the distillery and brewery industry.   Talking to presspersons, Mr Pramod C. Chaudhari, Chairman and Managing Director, Praj Industries, said the company has finalised contracts for two green-field fuel ethanol plants in Colombia. It has also been awarded a contract for a large-sized ethanol plant based on molecular sieve dehydration technology for installation in Central America.  

   The order worth for the three projects is $15 million, he said.   Mr Chaudhari said the company has signed the fuel ethanol contracts in the last week of December 2003 with Groupo Ardila Lulle, one of the larger sugar conglomerates in Colombia.   He noted that Colombia is the second South American country after Brazil to adopt fuel ethanol policy and in April 2003 had gazetted a law, which mandates use of 10 per cent ethanol to petrol. The sugar mills awarding the contracts  Incacua and Providencia  are based at Valle near Cali in the sugar belt and has a capacity of three lakh and 2.5 lakh litres per day respectively.   Mr Chaudhari said the third order is for a dehydration unit to be set up for an existing plant in Central America. The capacity of this plant is three lakh litres. The plant would dehydrate raw alcohol to anhydrous alcohol for exports to the US.    

     Ethanol is a clean, renewable, high performance  fuel for your vehicle. Up to  a 10 percent blend of ethanol (called  E10) is covered under warranty by every  auto manufacturer that  sells vehicles in the U.S. for every make and every model  of vehicle.  Ethanol, the clean fuel:  Ethanol  is a clean-burning fuel that reduces carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon  tailpipe emissions.  Ethanol  is an oxygenate, and that oxygen allows it to burn more cleanly  and  more completely than gasoline.  Ethanol, the renewable fuel: Ethanol is made from corn and other crops, renewable  resources that derive  their energy from the sun, rain, and soil.  A new supply of ethanol can be "grown" each year, in contrast  to the  millions of years needed to produce fossil fuel-based energy  sources.  Ethanol,  the high performance fuel:  Pure 100% ethanol has an octane rating of 113, so adding  10% ethanol to  gasoline raises the overal octane by 2 to 3 points.  Ethanol has a lower BTU value than gasoline, meaning that  ethanol burns  cooler and is gentler on the vehicle's engine -  less wear and tear leads to  longer engine life.

The Strange Disappearance of 100,000 American Millionaires