President-elect Gustavo Petro and his cabinet will receive foreign trade with positive calculations, In most cases, with a window of challenges and opportunities to be able to exploit the potential of the sector.
(The Islamic Development Bank approved $300 million for Colombia: what would you use it for).
In line with what the former presidential candidate said about the historic charter, Some free trade agreements will be reviewed and a greater role for non-traditional sectors, such as oil, will be sought.
In fact, the future Minister of Finance in the Petro government, Jose Antonio Ocampo, has drawn more details about the plans as of next August 7. “I think the most important issue is export diversification, and for this, protection is not very helpful, what needs to be done are more active production policies for the agricultural, industrial and service sectors,” Ocampo said in an interview with El Tiempo. ..
(The Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United Kingdom enters into force.)
In line with the upcoming challenges for the president-elect, Portafolio spoke with export associations and study centers, which mapped out a roadmap of opportunities for the sector.
Increase Sales
Increasing the country’s foreign sales is a goal agreed upon by the entities consulted by this newspaper and suggests several ways to achieve it.
From Analdex, they commented that Colombia has a low level of integration into international markets, as it is the third most closed Latin American country, after Brazil and Argentina.
To change this situation, “a state policy on foreign trade is required that has a roadmap that allows for the generation of a favorable environment from the regulatory point of view and which, supported by technology, facilitates operational procedures.”
Currently, to carry out an export, a company takes, on average, 6.25 days, When it is done in Panama in one day or in Peru, with two days.
On the other hand, from Fitac and the Observatoire de la Commerce International (OBCI) of the Universidad del Norte, agree that more should be made of existing FTAs.
“It is recommended to take advantage of existing ProColombia studies and experiences of existing FTAs as the potential for growth of service exports is demonstrated by positioning sectors such as health, technology services outsourcing and apparel design,” said Mario de la Puente. , director of OBCI.
But increasing exports will not only be a challenge or an opportunity for the next government, but it will also diversify it.
For Fitac, this diversity focuses on three important points: technology, human capital, and the business fabric. Primarily, in the field of technology, the organization says that it is “of critical importance” that all links in the chains contain technology that meets the needs of their sector, and with which they can “meet the demand of foreign markets.”
With regard to human capital, the organization states that it is “essential” to train it and that it is “able to identify needs that arise in global markets” and thus develop business opportunities and create a “service-export-oriented mindset”.
On a third point, in the business fabric, Fitac, with which other respondents agree, notes that “existing businesses need to be strengthened, processes improved and an export culture inculcated in them.” In addition, they advocate creating companies with the mindset of creating products or services that are not only in demand in the country but also internationally.
digital partition
One of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the acceleration of digitization in many aspects, as foreign trade is not far away, however, experts consulted agree that there is still a long way to go.
Fitac is proposing a state policy aimed at digitizing operations that are supplemented by credits for companies that cannot afford to pay them. Meanwhile, Analdex is looking at boosting foreign investment in key sectors to accelerate this digitization.
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