WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commercial Service, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is organizing its largest event of 2014, May 19-21 in Bogota, Colombia. This year’s TradeWinds event includes an Americas-focused business forum consisting of regional and industry specific conference sessions as well as pre-arranged consultations with U.S. Foreign Commercial Service Senior Commercial Officers, representing commercial markets throughout the region. The multiple trade mission stops will give participants the opportunity to conduct business-to-business meetings with firms in Colombia, Panama, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.
TradeWinds — now in its seventh year — promises to deliver tangible bottom-line result as demonstrated by a proven track record of facilitating $110 million in new sales and creating thousands of introductions to new global business partners in Turkey (2008), Poland (2009), Brazil (2010), Mexico (2011), Singapore (2012) and Korea (2013).
The Department of Commerce also recently launched the Look South Initiative <http://export.gov/tradeamericas/looksouth/>, aimed at promoting Latin America as a great place to look for export opportunities. With half of the United States’ FTA partners located in the region, and with a growing middle class and strong growth, now is the time to take a serious look at the region, the department states. With experts from throughout the region at the conference, attendees will come away with a greater understanding of what market opportunities exist for their businesses.
Colombia is the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, after Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, and has the third-largest population, with approximately 48 million people. It is the only country in South America with two seacoasts (Pacific and Caribbean), which provides tactical shipping advantages in today’s global market. Aided by major security improvements, strong political stability, steady economic growth and moderate inflation, Colombia has become a free market economy with major commercial and investment ties to the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
With the implementation of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement on May 15, 2012, Colombia is the third-largest market for U.S. exports in Latin America. The agreement immediately eliminated import tariffs on 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia, with remaining tariffs phased out over one to 10 years.
Colombia has the third-largest auto parts market in Latin America, after only Mexico and Brazil, and currently ranks third in automobile manufacturing in Latin America. A significant amount of U.S. auto parts can now enter Colombia duty-free, providing U.S. companies with a competitive advantage over other foreign auto parts manufacturers in markets that don’t have an FTA with Colombia. While there are 5.5 million vehicles in Colombia, new car sales are still fairly low, (316,000 in 2012) which results in a large demand for used auto parts. The domestic automotive sector is expected to grow by 22 percent over the next five years.
The United States is Colombia’s largest trading partner and Colombia is the 22nd-largest market for U.S. exports in 2012. U.S. exports to Colombia in 2012 topped $16 billion, an increase of more than 14 percent over 2011.
For more information about this event, go to: http://export.gov/pennsylvania/tradewinds or contact Jeff Hamilton at [email protected] and he can schedule a time to speak with you to discuss if TradeWinds is right for you.
