Jun 2015 Financial News
Colombia wants T&T invesment
Jun 25, 2015
T&T companies like the Massy Group are interested in investing in Colombia’s growing economy, said Carlos Gonzalez, executive director for the Caribbean region of PROCOLOMBIA, an export promotion agency.
“Massy Group is expanding in Colombia. We invited them to be the keynote speaker at this morning’s meeting where we met T&T companies. The Massy Group spoke about their experiences, which are very positive. They have big plans for Colombia. They are very comfortable in Colombia. They have opened a head office in Bogota and they invested in the car dealership sector in the city of Cali. They also have the Massy Services as well and they have future plans for there. They believe in the opportunities that Colombia offers,” he told the Business Guardian last week.
He said Colombia offers many opportunities for companies to expand.
“I am not aware there are other T&T companies operating there now, but we are working with other companies who are interested in breaking into that market. At this moment, the information about those interested is confidential,” he said.
He spoke to the Business Guardian after a breakfast meeting at the Hyatt Regency with 21 T&T companies who expressed an interest in doing business with or in Colombia in Port-of-Spain. According to a Guardian report last October, the Massy Group acquired Massy Energy Colombia.
The group’s chairman Robert Bermudez speaking at the VIII Americas Competitive Forum last October said: “We are now growing our horizons to include Central and South America. We have made three investments in the recent past, the most recent was announced today, where we acquired Wood Group PSN Colombia and we welcome 1,200 new collaborators to the Massy family under the banner Massy Energy Colombia. This will allow us to leverage our energy ecosystem into Colombia.”
Massy Group said the acquired company provides production, maintenance and engineering services to clients in the oil, gas and mining sectors in Colombia.
Bermudez had also said they acquired a car dealership in Bogota and Cali, where they have a joint venture partner with the De Lima Group.
Gonzalez said PROCOLOMBIA is the entity of the Colombian Government whose mission is to promote exports of goods and services from Colombia to the world especially to the Caribbean region.
He said it promotes Colombia as a destination of Foreign Direct Investment and pushes the internationalization of Colombia companies.
Speaking about the breakfast meeting two Wednesdays ago, Gonzalez said: “We had companies from T&T’s oil industries, from the gas industries, manufacturing and the financial sector. The message was to know more about Colombia and the opportunities that Colombia offers as a strategic partner for their business to get their potential. Colombia is a very dynamic market now.”
Gonzalez spoke to the Guardian last Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain.
Trade
He said trade between T&T and Colombia continues to be strong.
In 2014, the total exports from Colombia to T&T amounted to US$142 million of which US $100 was petroleum and US $42 million were value-added products like agro business, construction materials and apparel.
“The biggest non -nergy product that we sold last year to T&T was the sugar. T&T is a good market for Colombian sugar and vegetable oil. Also, exported to T&T from Colombia were household items and packaging and plastics.”
According to the statistics he provided, T&T’s exports to Colombia in 2014 were valued at US $457,817.
This was mainly in refined petroleum products.
Economy
He said Colombia is now Latin America’s third largest economy behind Brazil and Mexico.
“We are now bigger than Argentina, according to the World Economic Forum, which recognizes Colombia’s US$369 billion economy. We have shown economic growth of five per cent in the last few years. We also have a growing middle class.”
Colombia’s income per capita has doubled in the last 12 years from US$5,800 to over US$10,000.
He said there are a lot of positive achievements in Colombia over the last 12 years and they want the private sector in T&T to know that and single out the opportunities in Colombia to expand their business. PROCOLOMBIA is the link to find the right partner in Colombia, he said.
The export promotion agency has identified 20 strategic sectors in the Colombian economy like services, manufacturing and agribusiness.
“We are looking for investment in those 20 sectors. We have investments in health tourism, eco-tourism, electric energy and goods and services. In manufacturing we want investors in graphic communication, fashion, auto parts industry, cosmetic, shipyard industry.
“In the agribusiness the confectionery industry, beef and cattle industry, palm oil, bio fuels and diary. We have opportunities in the hotel industry as well. Hotel investors are exempt from income tax for 30 years. There are hotels and opportunities in Bogota, Cartagena in Medellin, Barranquilla and in Cali,” he said.
He said there are Colombian multinationals who want to continue to grow abroad.
He added the South American country wants to have 200 Colombian multinational companies in a decade and so far some of the bigger brands include Colombina and Nacional de Chocolate in the confectionary sector. In the concrete industry there is Argos which has invested in the Latin America. In the financial sector there is Alpina which has broken into the US market.
“We have companies in the Dominican Republic and in the rest of the Caribbean, so why not T&T? We want to show T&T’s business sector that there are Colombian companies looking to invest.”
He said at the moment there are no Colombian companies operating in T&T but there are Colombian energy companies looking at potential investments in T&T.
Colombia’s economy is also similar to T&T’s as over half of its revenue is based on energy. The petroleum and the oil and mining sectors are responsible for 75 percent of energy revenue, he said.
“Because petroleum prices are lower we need to make up for that. Over the next few years the Colombian government is going to invest in infrastructure and Colombia has planned over US$53.4 billion in investment works like roads, ports, construction of pipelines for the oil and gas industry, railways and investment in the electric energy sector. This will help the Colombian economy to grow and make up for the loss income from the energy sector.”
He said 25 per cent of Colombia’s economy relies on the manufacturing sector and T&T can learn from Colombia’s example in economic diversification.
“We have the Productivity Transformation Programme and this speaks about the 20 sectors in Colombia that we want to help develop. We are aggressively looking for foreign investors to come into those 20 sectors. We are also creating the conditions so Colombia can appeal to foreign investors to invest there.
“It is a strategic plan implemented in 2007 with the goal to be met every five years. We have a long term vision to make Colombia dependent on other sectors and diversify our economy. We need to expand manufacturing and the services sector,” he said.
Source:
Raphael John-Lall
raphael.lall@guardian.co.tt
Business Guardian, BG4 and BG5
Thursday June 25, 2015
