President Uribe Coddles Investors

Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, in a keynote speech to the LatinFinance Andean Forum, emphasized the importance his administration is placing on investors. “Investor confidence is very important for us, and we’re more concerned with this than with the year-to year results [of our economy,]” he says. “We want to provide guarantees for the private sector with social inclusion,” he adds, noting gains in tax reductions, regulatory framework, and reforms, all of which he believes led to a pickup in investment. Uribe also said developing a biofuels industry will be a priority for his administration going forward. “We have a great future in biofuels,” he adds. Unlike the US, Colombia has plenty of land available, so it does not have to plant biofuels crops on land used for food production, or jungle.