Bogotá: The door of Europe to the Latin American Market

• The agency for promoting investment and attracting world-class events, Invest in Bogota, takes forward a robust agenda of visits and meetings with key players in Europe to make visible business trends and the potential of the city.
• According to figures from the entity, the new investment projects that arrived in Colombia from Europe between 2012 and 2022 position this continent as the main investor in the country, even above North America.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Through a robust agenda of participation in strategic events and meetings with key stakeholders, Invest in Bogota, the agency for the promotion of foreign investment and the attraction of world-class events in the Colombian capital, strengthens its position before companies, interest groups and public-private entities in Europe. This, in order to present opportunities to investors, with the aim of generating dynamism in the region, employment, technology transfer, and to position Bogotá as an export platform committed to compliance with the SDGs, among other aspects.

During this visit to Europe, topics such as decarbonization, transition to a circular economy and commitments to climate change have been addressed to migrate towards responsible investment, allowing Invest in Bogota to explore investment opportunities for the Bogotá Region together with some companies in Germany and Spain, countries that were prioritized.

Businessmen state that despite the difficulties, inefficiencies, and challenges in the region, there are four large markets that have been a favorite investment destination and will continue to be targeted for this type of investors: Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Brazil. Together, these countries are responsible for more than two thirds of Latin America's GDP and present great opportunities in areas, such as sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy, waste management, electric vehicles, water management, healthy food and agribusiness, energy transition, among others. other prioritized issues.

In the last 10 years, Bogotá received 576 new investment and expansion projects from Europe, valued at USD 9,071 million, which generated nearly 50,000 jobs.

Isabela Muñoz, executive director of Invest in Bogota, points out that "Spain with 38.7% and Germany with 9.7% stand out as the main investing countries; in addition, Bogotá Region concentrated 57.6% of the projects, 36.5% of the investment amounts and 41.5% of the jobs generated by the FDI that came to Colombia from Europe. This positions the city as the preferred destination for European investors in Colombia."

For this reason, the agenda was focused not only on evaluating actions that help promote business in the country and the city, but also to give visibility to the immense potential that the Colombian capital has to host operations of international companies, looking to expand or enter the Latin American market.

These great opportunities also bring challenges for the different markets, mainly for emerging economies, as is the case with several LATAM countries, since "in order to fully integrate into this sustainable investment ecosystem, there is a need to work hard on available information, incentives, regulations, removal of barriers, reliable metrics, among other necessary elements to continue positioning the Bogotá Region as the star investment destination in Latin America," concludes Muñoz.

Contact:
Lorena Rodríguez
Marketing and Communications Officer
E-mail: lrodriguez@investinbogota.org