International Allies
Bogotá D.C. September, 2023
CONTENTS
ICC COURT CELEBRATES 100 YEARS, LOOKING TO THE NEXT CENTURY OF DISPUTE PREVENTION AND RESOLUTION
This year is the Centenary of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, a time to celebrate the legacy of ICC’s innovative leadership and consider the future of dispute prevention and resolution.
What are we celebrating?
For 100 years – since the ICC Court was founded in 1923 – we have been at the forefront of supporting global trade and investment through our pioneering dispute prevention and resolution services.
The ICC Court is the only arbitral institution that is truly international, not linked to any one geography or subject to shifting political winds. The ICC Court has a unique role of scrutinising draft awards and managing cases through its Secretariat.
As we celebrate a century of service, we are taking this time to reflect on our journey and key milestones. At the same time, we are recommitting to our purpose to promote access to justice and the rule of law to everyone, every day, everywhere.
On 19 January 2023, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), issued the ICC Declaration on Dispute Prevention and Resolution, honoring the Centenary of the ICC Court and setting out a vision to shape dispute resolution and prevention for the next century.
How are we celebrating?
To celebrate this important milestone, in addition to several initiatives and projects, the ICC Court, together with the ICC National Committees, has organized several special events this year.
In particular, in Latin America, in 2023, the ICC Court organized events in Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and recently in Colombia. These events have had great attendance and engaged the legal and business community in relevant and current discussions concerning arbitration in the region. The initiative to organize these events confirms the ICC Court’s attention to the region for and demonstrate the region’s arbitration community unity to improving arbitration and ADR in LATAM.
With respect to Colombia, on 6 September, the 3rd ICC Colombia Arbitration Day, organized by the ICC Court and ICC Colombia, took place in Bogotá, with more than 160 attendees. After welcoming remarks from Maria Fernanda Garza, chair of the ICC Executive Board, I was interviewed by the President of the ICC Colombia Commission on Arbitration, Anne Marie Mürrle, on the centenary of the ICC Court. There were engaging discussions with excellent speakers, including Vice Presidents of the ICC Court, Andrés Jana, Sandra González, and Deva Villanúa; Court Members representing Colombia, Eduardo Silva Romero and Monica Jiménez; Paul Di Pietro, Counsel, and Patricia Ferraz, Regional Director for Latin America.
While in Bogotá, ICC Colombia organized a meeting with the rector and faculty of the Universidad Externado de Colombia, and I was also interviewed for a YAAF event with over 120 attendees, who asked very savvy questions about creativity and leadership in a changing legal landscape. We also had an intense series of meetings organized
by ICC Colombia, including with business leaders on the board of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Colombian law firms, ICC Colombia arbitration commission, and the National Infrastructure Agency.
We will continue to mark the Centenary of the ICC Court throughout the remainder of the year, but I am sure that the events organized in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, are among the highlights of the ICC Court Centenary celebrations.
I am committed to assuring that ICC arbitration remains the preferred method of resolving cross-border disputes in Latin America, and I look forward to what the next century has in store for ICC’s dispute prevention and resolution services in LATAM!
Claudia Salomon President of the ICC’s International Court of Arbitration2. GOOD NEWS ABOUT COLOMBIA AND BOGOTÁ-REGION
NATIONAL NEWS
• The country launched its new promotional narrative “Colombia, the country of beauty” worldwide. With this campaign, Colombia seeks to consolidate itself internationally as a top-level tourist destination and as an ideal destination for foreign investment. In addition, the beauty of our country, the third most beautiful country in the world according to Forbes magazine, is intended to be a key driver of economic development. For more information, see the following link.
• One year after reestablishing political and commercial relations with Venezuela, Colombia has exported more than USD 600 million to the neighboring country. This important milestone was celebrated with a VenezuelaColombia Macro Business Roundtable that took place from September 27 to 29. During this space, in which more than 600 businesses participated, the governments also agreed to the opening of the La Unión International Bridge. For more information, see the following link
• Colombia and 16 other countries call on the European Union for the negative impact its deforestation-free trade standard will bring to their economies. Through a letter addressed to the European Council, the European Commission, and the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Council of the European Union, currently headed by Spain, 17 countries, including Colombia, reiterated their concern about the issuance, and now implementation, of the regulation of the European Union on deforestation-free trade. The letter urged European senior officials to review the regulation and participate in an open dialogue with the producing countries that export their goods to that market to mitigate the impacts its implementation will bring on trade. For more information, see the following link
• During a Business Forum with Kenya, Colombia launched the “She Exports Africa” strategy. During this Forum, which took place at the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and which occurred on the occasion of the visit of the Vice President of Kenya, H.E. Rigathi Gachagua, Colombia launched this initiative that seeks to support the internationalization of companies owned or led by women. For more information, see the following link.
• The Colombia Investment Summit returns. In its eighth edition, which will take place from November 20 to 28, the most important foreign investment event in our country will focus on presenting the offer of our regions to thousands of foreign businessmen and women. For more information, see the following link
BOGOTÁ-REGION NEWS
• Bogotá's GDP remains stable in the second quarter of 2023. The country's capital maintains stable behavior, with a growth of 0.2% compared to the second quarter of 2022. The Capital’s GDP, which stood at 65.2 trillion COP (USD 160 billion), reached 115.0% of the same period in 2019, the pre-pandemic year. For more information, see the following link.
• Bogotá's investment attraction agency, Invest in Bogotá, launched the fourth edition of the Investment Guide for foreign investors interested in doing business in the capital. The Guide contains 19 chapters on topics such as immigration regimes, treaties and other international trade instruments, tax regimes, business creation, and the international investments and exchange regime, among others. For more information, see the following link
• RVMBO 2023, the leading forum for tourism businesses in Bogotá-Region, concludes successfully. Between September 17 and 20, the Bogotá Vacation Round and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions) took place. The event was attended by more than 150 people, including buyers and sellers, who managed to make more than 900 business appointments. In total, there were 22 international buyers from Argentina, Guatemala, the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru. For more information, see the following link.
3. BOGOTÁ CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
• The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce’s new Executive President has been elected. On September 27, the Board of Directors of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce elected Mr. Ovidio Claros Polanco as executive president of the Organization, who will occupy the position as of October 2. Mr. Ovidio Claros is a lawyer from the Universidad Libre. He has post-graduate studies in Public Law from the National University of Colombia; in Health Services Management from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University; and in Environmental Law from the Universidad del Rosario. He also completed an executive master’s degree in marketing management at the Madrid School of Industrial Organization. He has served as a magistrate of the disciplinary chamber of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, the highest judicial authority in Colombian territory; as comptroller of Bogotá; Member of the House of Representatives; and has been a professor at different universities
• The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce became the first Chamber of Commerce in the country with the Certification of the Gender Equality System under the Equipares Silver Seal and the Aequales Certification in gender equity and diversity. For more information, see the following link.
• We successfully developed Expotalento Diverso and Inclusivo (Expotalent Diverse and Incluse). On September 29, the BCC, together with the Chamber of Diversity, held this fair that seeks to offer job opportunities to diverse people. In total, we had more than 1,600 vacancies offered by 20 companies with inclusive selection processes. For more information, see the following link
• The BCC and the Korean Embassy in Colombia will hold the “Strategic Cooperation Forum, a View to the Future”. With this event, which will take place on October 4 at the Chapinero Headquarters of the BCC (Calle 67 # 8-32), we seek to share the challenges, strategies, and affairs of interest in the different relevant aspects of the bilateral relationship, such renewable energies, sustainable mobility, and shipbuilding. To participate, we invite you to register through the following link
• The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and its Arbitration and Conciliation Center will hold the event “Economy and Business Development under Lawfare Scenarios in Europe and America.” To participate, we invite you to register through the following link.
4. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
4.1. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)
In the second quarter of 2023, Colombia's GDP grew 0.3% compared to the same period of the previous year. This represents a decrease of 11.9 percentage points below the second quarter of 2022, in which the country grew 12.2%. The economic activities with the highest participation in gross value added in the second quarter of 2023 were wholesale and retail trade, public administration and defense, and manufacturing industries, with a participation of 19.4%, 15.7% and 12.8% respectively.
As for Bogotá, in the second quarter of 2023, the GDP grew by 0.2%, indicating modest economic growth compared to the same quarter of the previous year, in which Bogotá experienced a growth of 15.5%.
Bogotá's GDP reached $95,184 billion COP in current prices in the second quarter of 2023, of which $84,788 billion corresponds to the gross added value of the city. The activities that contributed the most to the aforementioned gross value added were wholesale and retail trade, public administration, and defense, and, in third place, real estate activities, with 24.4%, 16.9%, and 12.8%, respectively. Likewise, the activities with the highest annual growth were artistic activities and agricultural activities, with growths of 15.3% and 10.0%.
4.2 INFLATION
Both Colombia and Bogotá experienced a decrease in the monthly price variation compared to the same month of the previous year. In August 2022, the monthly variation in Colombia was 1.02% and in Bogotá 0.83%, while, in August 2023, it was reduced to 0.70% and 0.69%, respectively. This decrease indicates lower inflationary pressure in the Colombian economy.
Graph 1. Annual growth rate, by quarter, of GDP between 2019 and 2023 Colombia and Bogotá
Source: DANE-SDDE
Source: DANE – Consumer Price Index (CPI)
It is interesting to note that the year-to-date variation in Bogotá has exceeded that of Colombia in the same period. As of August 2023, the year-to-date variation in Bogotá was 7.70%, while in Colombia it was 7.43%. This indicates that the capital has experienced inflationary behavior slightly higher than the national average during that time. In terms of the annual price variation, although it was higher than in the same month of the previous year, continues to decrease in comparison to the beginning of the year. In August 2023, for Colombia, the annual price variation was 11.43%, while that of Bogotá was 11.67%.
4.3. BUSINESS DYNAMIC
In August 2023, the data shows an increase in the number of active companies in the jurisdiction of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce compared to previous years. An overall growth of 1.27% is observed in total active companies for August 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. This represents an increase of 5,683 companies in one year.
When analyzing the participation of companies by legal order, the majority of the registered companies belong to Physical Persons, with a total of 255,668 companies, which represents 56.3% of the total active companies. On the other hand, companies under Legal Persons reached a total of 198,624, which represents 43.7% of the total active companies in the jurisdiction.
Regarding the annual variation, it is highlighted that both categories, Physical and Legal Persons, have experienced positive growth in the number of active companies between August 2022 and August 2023. The variation for Physical Persons was 0.4%. , while for Legal ones it was 2.5%.
Number of Active Companies
Source: Business Registry, CCB, 2019 -2021 - 2022 - 2023.
When analyzing the participation of companies by size in August 2023, Microenterprises represent the majority of the business fabric, with a total of 419,064 companies, which is equivalent to 92.25% of the total active companies in the BCC’s jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Small Businesses constitute 5.39% of the total, with a registration of 24,509 companies; Medium Companies represent 1.61%, with 7,296 companies; and Large Companies make up 0.75% of the total, with a registry of 3,423 companies.
In terms of annual variation in the number of active companies compared to August 2022, Microbusinesses had a growth of 1.6%, while Small Businesses experienced a decrease of -2.4%. For their part, Medium Companies fell by -1.3%, while Large Companies registered a decrease of -1.0%.
4.4 EMPLOYMENT
El empleo ha mostrado una mejoría respecto al año anterior. A nivel nacional, la tasa de desempleo en julio de 2023 fue de 9,6%, 1,4 puntos porcentuales (pp) menor a julio de 2022. Así mismo, la tasa de ocupación ha subido 2,1pp en el último año, ubicándose en 58,6% para julio de 2023. La tasa de global de participación aumentó en 1,3pp, pasando de ubicarse en 63,5% en julio de 2022 a 64,8% en julio de 2023. Lo anterior, es un buen indicador de la mejoría del mercado laboral. A pesar de que más personas están participando del mercado laboral, en julio de 2023 el desempleo continuó más bajo que en el mismo mes del año anterior.
Table 2. Evolution of active companies by size between 2019 and 2023 for the January-August periodThe employed population grew by 1.13 million people from July 2022 to July 2023. Likewise, the number of unemployed decreased by 9.9%, which means 269 thousand people found themselves in a non-employed condition. In regard to Bogotá and its metropolitan area, the unemployment rate was 9.9% for the moving quarter of May 23Jul 23, higher than the 9.8% of the national total for the same period For the same quarter, the capital shows an occupancy rate of 62.7%, 4.7pp above the national occupancy for the same quarter. The data shows that more people of working age are participating in the labor market in the capital (69.6%) than in the country (64.3%).
5. INTERNATIONAL TRADE EXPORTS
In July 2022, Colombia experienced notable growth in its exports, with an increase of 71.73% compared to the same month of the previous year. However, Bogotá showed a lower growth of 10.81%, while Cundinamarca registered an increase of 56.38%. A year later, in July 2023, Colombia experienced a 30.76% decrease in its exports compared to July 2022, indicating an important slowdown. Bogotá, on the other hand, achieved an increase of 32.03%, in contrast to Cundinamarca, which saw a decrease of 38.84%.
In July 2023, Colombia experienced a significant decrease in its exports, falling to $4,094.79 million dollars FOB. In contrast, Bogotá maintained positive growth, reaching $390.17 million dollars FOB. Finally, Cundinamarca experienced a decrease in its exports, reaching $164.69 million dollars FOB. The positive trend of the capital's exports stands out, as it more than doubled the value of the exports of the rest of the department of Cundinamarca. In July 2023, total exports from the Bogotá-Cundinamarca region reached a value of $554.86 million dollars FOB The United States stood out as the main destination of exports, with a total of $240 million dollars FOB, which is equivalent to 43.25% of the total exports. Ecuador ranked second on the list of export destinations with $63.86 million dollars FOB, representing 11.51% of the total. Peru and Mexico also stood out as relevant destinations, with $29.5 million (5.32%) and $24.02 million (4.33%) respectively. Argentina and Chile contributed $19.91 million (3.59%) and $14.84 million (2.67%), respectively, to the Bogotá-Cundinamarca exports. Canada, Venezuela, the Netherlands, and Panama also played a notable role in exports, with values of $13.62 million (2.45%), $11.69 million (2.11%), $11.59 million (2.09 %), and $10.2 million (1.84%) respectively. Exports to "Other Countries" accounted for $115.63 million FOB, constituting 20.84% of the overall total, a significant contribution in terms of share.
IMPORTS
In July 2023, the country's imports amounted to US $4,945,201 CIF, presenting a decrease of 28.2% compared to the same month of 2022. This behavior was mainly due to the 26.8% decrease in imports of Manufactures. In any case, this segment participated with 75.5% of the total CIF value of imports, followed by Agriculture, food and beverages with 14.2%, Fuels and products from the extractive industries with 10.1%, and Other sectors with 0.2%. In the totality of the January-July 2023 period, Colombian imports were US$36,766,119 CIF and registered a decrease of 19%, compared to the same period in 2022.
It is important to highlight that imports originating from the United States accounted for 23.4% of the total, followed by China (22.4%), Brazil (7.4%), Mexico (4.7%), France (3. 6%), Germany (3.4%) and India (2.6%). In July 2023 compared to July 2022, the most important contribution came from purchases originating in the United States (36.7%) and China (-32.3%), contributing a total of 17.4 negative percentage points to the total variation of the month (-28.2%). In contrast, imports from Lithuania contributed a positive 0.4 percentage points to the total variation for the month. The decrease in imports originating in the United States in July 2023 compared to July 2022 was explained by lower purchases of gasoline for motors and other light oils (-63.7%) and diesel oils (-85. 8%).
Regarding Bogotá, imports in July amounted to US $2,446,312 CIF, presenting an increase of 56% compared to what was registered in the same month of 2022. For its part, in the January-July period, imports from the Colombian capital amount to US $18,630,727 CIF, decreasing by 8.6% compared to those registered in the same period of 2022.
For its part, imports from Cundinamarca in July 2023 reached US $405,941 CIF. The latter represents an increase of 10.5% compared to July 2022. So far this year (January-July), the department's imports amount to US $2,996,043 CIF, presenting a decrease of 19.2% compared to what was registered in the same period of 2022.
6. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
During the second quarter of 2023, the country received a total of US $5,278 million in Foreign Direct Investment, equivalent to 6.2% of the quarterly GDP. This sum was higher by US$ 157 million compared to the same period in 2022 and by US$ 996 million compared to the immediate previous quarter.
Graph
Regarding FDI flows by country of origin, during the second quarter of 2023, resources came mainly from the United States (US$ 1,730 m), Anguilla (US$1,398 m), Spain (US$ 600 m), England ( US$ 483 m), Switzerland (US$ 294 m), Netherlands (US$ 130 m), Virgin Islands (US$ 130 m), and Peru (US$ 121 m). The annual increase in FDI (US$ 157 m) is mainly explained by the higher investments received from Anguilla, the United States, England, Mexico, Uruguay, and Luxembourg, partially offset by the lower investments from Panama, Chile, the Cayman Islands, and Spain.
7. SOURCES
• Please refer to the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Observatory for further information.https://www.ccb.org.co/observatorio
• DANE. National Accounts Recovered from: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-portema/cuentas-nacionales/cuentas-nacionales-trimestrales
• DANE. Labor Market. Information Recovered from: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-portema/mercado-laboral/empleo-y-desempleo
• Business Registry, CCB, 2019 - 2020 – 2021 – 2022 – 2023. Recovered from: https://www.ccb.org.co/informacion-especializada/observatorio/dinamica-empresarial
4 Quarterly FDI flows Source: Central Bank