BCC News and Upcoming Events

2. Good News from Colombia

Good News from Colombia

• President Gustavo Petro took office on August 7. During the first 30 days of his tenure, he has introduced a new tax reform that aims to collect COP $25 billion through higher taxes for high income individuals, taxes on sugar and ultra-processed foods and on the extractive industry, among others. He also took the first step towards reestablishing commercial and diplomatic relations with Venezuela. For more information, please visit the following link.

• Colombia was named as the best country in Latin America to start a business. According to the Global

Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the country has the best conditions and business environment in Latin

America to create new companies. Among the advantages highlighted by the report were the "Avanza" platform of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, which helps entrepreneurs make an initial evaluation of their business idea, and the Single Business Window (VUE). For more information, please visit the following link.

• During the XXII Presidential Council of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), which took place on August 29,

President Gustavo Petro called for Venezuela and Chile, two founding countries, to be reintegrated. Additionally, the president called for Argentina to be brought closer to the Community and urged all member states to decarbonize their economies through reindustrialization processes and to protect the Amazon. For more information, please visit the following link.

• Within the framework of the Spain-Colombia Business Meeting that took place on August 24 at the Bogotá

Chamber of Commerce, which had the special participation of the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro

Sánchez, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Germán Umaña Mendoza, and his

Spanish counterpart María Reyes Maroto, came together to define a bilateral work agenda focused on five topics: (i) attracting foreign investment that facilitates the transition towards renewable energies, (ii) reviewing the trade agenda and the results of the Commercial Association Agreement between the two countries, (iii) implementing a sustainable development model that consolidates peace, reduces regional inequalities, and develops green tourism, (iv) promoting economic, commercial and technological cooperation for a productive and institutional transformation that faces the challenges derived from the European Green Deal, and (v) promoting fair competition, avoiding possible abuses of dominant market position. For more information, please visit the following link.

• Chile endorsed imports of Colombian Hass avocado. After nearly eight years of joint work between the health authorities and Colombian producers, on August 6 the Chilean government gave the go-ahead for the Colombian

Hass avocado to enter this market. For more information, please visit the following link.