The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, today concluded his first official visit to Spain by inviting businessmen to invest in Colombia, which aims to become a "country boring, predictable and clear game rules and stable" for business .
Santos also said in Madrid that his main priority is the advancement of social indicators, "less poverty and greater equity, reducing extreme poverty to less than 9 percent and reducing the" shameful "social imbalances.
In his second and final day official visit to Spain, the Colombian president had a meeting with the heads of some major Spanish companies, Repsol, CAF, Endesa, Cepsa, Sol Meliá, OHL, Iberia or FCC Construcciones, and then intervened in the New Economy Forum.
Santos encouraged the entrepreneurs to invest in major infrastructure development in his country, he said, wants "to grow at high rates and take a leap to development."
To do Colombia, which is expected to grow this year by 5 percent, has launched a development plan that "paves the way to be more attractive for investment," he said.
Spain, the second largest investor in Colombia after the U.S., devoted South American country in 2010 to 420 million euros in exports, while exports from Colombia to Spain amounted to 475 million euros.
He noted that Asia and Latin America are becoming the new engines of global growth and in this regard, said Colombia develops in the region a "paper hinge" between the two major poles of growth, Mexico and Brazil, with the aim of be more dynamic and attract more foreign investment.
The president identified "five engines" that should boost the national economy and that also contain an investment attraction for Spanish companies: housing, agribusiness, energy and mining, innovation and infrastructure.
The chairman of BBVA, Francisco González, praised in the New Economy Forum Santos policy and stressed that Colombia is "a premier destination for investors."
Thus, in order to invest in his country, Colombian President stressed that security "is no longer the primary concern" that prevented Colombia for years progressed.
Warned that although Colombia is not "even in paradise" as the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have not been defeated, they valued the democratic security policy launched by the previous government of President Alvaro Uribe and he added: "We're winning."
Although in the past eight months have added to the agenda priority areas, there are three pillars of its current government and that as they were for Uribe: democratic security, investment trust and social cohesion.
"These are issues that my Government continues and strengthens and added some ingredients to make these policies more successful," he said, before insisting that his country "is moving forward with legitimacy" to come to Colombia to have a "peaceful."
Development Minister of Spain Jose Blanco will lead a delegation traveling to Colombia next June to explore the possibilities of participating in the development of major infrastructure projects.
During his visit to Madrid, Santos also spoke of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and the improvement of relations between two rules: "Tell us all things with openness and respect differences."
"If we respect the differences we can work together on what we agree for the good of our peoples," he said.
In addition, Santos also said that there are no FARC camps in Venezuela. "There are not. We have found that these camps are not," he said.
Another political issues that emerged during this visit was investigating an alleged link between ETA Spanish Justice and the FARC, which, in its view, "is proven."
Santos, who is leaving today to travel to Madrid to Berlin last leg of his European tour, is leaving the Spanish capital satisfied with the official visit, which has held meetings with King Juan Carlos and the Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
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