Colombia virtual investment summit to begin
The 2020 Colombia Investment Summit kicks off today with opening remarks from high profile speakers, including Colombian President Ivan Duque and former US president Bill Clinton.
The annual summit, now in its sixth year, is organised by the government agency ProColombia with the goal of facilitating greater inflows of foreign direct investment. As Colombia wrestles with an economic crisis and growing public protests, Bogota hopes to replicate the success of last year’s summit, which produced 36 announced deals worth more than $1 billion in new venture capital investment.
Colombia is positioning itself as the preferred Latin American business partner as tensions among Venezuela, Brazil and Western leaders remain elevated. In mid-August, US officials in Bogota announced a three-year, $5 billion investment into rural areas of the South American country in an attempt to counter Chinese influence in the region and incentivise US firms to ‘near-shore’ their operations. Potential areas of investment include energy production and strategic communication infrastructure such as 5G. With US-Sino tensions showing no sign of easing, expect Colombia to remain an important strategic partner for the foreseeable future.
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