Friday April 22 the Uruguay-Colombia Chamber of Commerce was launched to develop the exchange of the business sector —and foreign investment—, in both countries.
“Diplomats paved the way between countries, but only realities can strengthen it. The Chamber arises to travel those paths”, assured the President of the new Uruguay-Colombia Chamber of Commerce, Orlando Dovat.
The idea of creating this institutional framework arose three years ago and, since then, Dovat has received visits from interested parties to finalize the project. The initiative is an effort by businessmen who see the relationship between the two countries as a possibility for growth. In fact, the Chamber is made up of companies that were represented today at the launch event that took place at the Colombian Embassy. Among a total of 20 guests, Dovat highlighted the participation of software, fashion and audiovisual companies.
They also participated in the meeting the director of Uruguay XXI, Sebastián Risso, and the director of the commercial office of ProColombia for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, Luisa Villegas. Both entities that promote their country brand intervened to show the benefits that the creation of the Chamber of Commerce has —both for Uruguay and for Colombia—.
Along the same lines, the Colombian ambassador to Uruguay, Carmen Vásquez, spoke: “It will help make the results more positive for both countries,” he said.
Colombia as a good country to invest
Unlike Uruguay, which, due to its size, does not have a tradition of internal trade —which is why companies aim at exporting—, Colombia developed inward. By making an investment in the coffee country, you reach an interesting internal market.
“Businesses that today serve three million inhabitants can reach 52 million in Colombia and 1,000 million in the Americas due to the connectivity we have,” Villegas explained to the businessmen participating in the event.
Colombia has a very attractive domestic market, according to Villegas. In fact, it is the third most populous country in Latin America. yesIt is expected that by the end of this year the number of inhabitants will be 52.6 million. within its territory there are 15 cities with populations of more than 500,000 inhabitants and 27 with more than 250,000 which assures companies that in any of the regions in which they settle, there will be a good market.
Villegas also said that Colombia is the fourth largest economy in the region with a positive growth outlook. At the moment, The coffee country has a direct foreign investment of US$ 9,402 million at the end of 2021.
“We are positioned as a top supplier in the region,” said Villegas. Colombia has free trade agreements with Canada, Costa Rica, Korea, the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. It also has an agreement with Mercosur. The Economic Complementation Agreement No. 72 was signed in 2017 and entered into force in July 2018. In 2020, 90% of the products that were part of the commercial exchange that Uruguay has with Colombia entered into the agreement, which gives tariff exemptions up to 0%.
Dovat’s business in Colombia
Businessman Orlando Dovat began the installation of the Zonamerica free zone in Colombia four years ago and, in 2019, he inaugurated the first building. Two more buildings are currently under construction. “We started to make the second building and a single company took it over completely. So, we decided to start the construction of the third one to reach small and medium-sized companies”, he said.
“This is indicating a dynamic that exists in Colombia and that we have to take advantage of”Held.
The businessman described that it is a service free zone, with a focus on fashion design and software design. Zonamerica has already exceeded 1,000 jobs in Cali.
The current market between the countries
Risso presented data on current imports and exports from Uruguay and Colombia. From the analysis based on information from Uruguay XXI, it can be deduced that In bilateral trade there is a favorable trade balance for our country between exports and imports. The items of beverage concentrates (49%) —with the Pepsi plant as a focus—, and pharmaceutical products (16%) are the main exporters. This is followed by fishery products and, further back, dairy products.
Pharmaceutical products, plastic products and margarine are the most purchased.
The future of the Chamber’s work
“Each one of us here makes an individual effort and we have the merit for doing so, but here we have the possibility of coming together, understanding that unity is strength and generating coordination among all to determine the objectives we want to achieve,” Dowat said. The first thing to do at the first board meeting is define where to go.
For now, there are 40 businessmen interested in joining the Chamber and Dovat hopes that in a short time there will be more to generate a strong current of opinion that will allow them to fight to change the rules of the game that hinder the development of business between both nations.
