Colombia President Alvaro Uribe called on US businesses to invest in
his country when speaking before a business forum in Sun Vally, Idaho Thursday.
According to its President, “Colombia is a country of 46 million people, with ecellent people. In Colombia you will find excellent managers, excellent workers, excellent partners and a morden labor and pension regulation.”
Uribe — whose administration has been pushing foreign investment to stimulate economic growth in the Andean country — spoke to a group of businessmen who attended the Allen & Company Sun Vally conference.
“Remember that Colombia is the third biggest market in Latin Americaafter Brazil and Mexico and this year we moved very close to Brazil and Mexico,” Uribe told the attendees.
According to the President, his administration has always investors “who have a social responsibility.”
Uribe also talked about the pending free trade pact with the U.S., a pact that the President says is “a sign of confidence in our country.”
Despite U.S. criticism on ongoing Colombian violence against labor rights workers and the impunity for those committing the violence, Uribe said he was “a lot more positive” that the trade agreement will pass Congress after his talk with U.S. President Barack Obama.
The conference was attended by some 300 leading U.S. investors and businessmen.