The US, Bogota's main ally in Foreign Direct Investment in 2019

BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --During 2019, Invest in Bogota (IIB), Colombia's capital investment promotion agency, supported 48 greenfield Foreign Direct Investment projects, its highest number for a calendar year since its institution in 2006.

Overall, IIB supported the arrival of investments from 25 countries in 2019. For this year the United States was the main ally for the city with 10 projects, Canada, the second, with four projects, and Germany, Spain, Mexico and France, with three projects each, were tied in the third place.

In addition to receiving investment from countries such as the United States, Spain or France, IIB supported projects from Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia, among others. This evidences that the city is developing interest from regions of the world that were not regularly inclined to Invest in Bogota in previous years.

According to Invest in Bogota's Executive Director, Juan Gabriel Pérez, the FDI projects which have arrived in the city "surpassed 600 million US dollars and generated more than 7,700 direct Jobs in 2019". Despite the figures, according to Pérez, these are quality employments for local citizens and are proof of the positive effects of FDI. 

Bogota continues to create an infrastructure that promotes the city as an attractive destination for Information Technology (IT) companies, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Shared Service Centers (SCS). These sectors were the ones that received the largest number of investment projects for the city in 2019. Bogota attracted 14 IT and BPO projects, which brought an estimate of 4,000 direct jobs.

Amongst the IT and BPO companies that invested with the assistance of IIB in the city during 2019 were: Ixerv LAC (United Arab Emirates), Nub8 (US), Grupo ARS (Ecuador), the British software development firm Endava, whom expanded its operations in the city, and Switzerland's Amaris Consulting, which opened a global robotic process automation center. 

The second sector in which IIB supported the largest number of investment projects was life sciences, which includes industries as medical devices, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and health services, with 10 projects amongst which were new and reinvestment. Besides, the city received 10 investment projects for the value-added manufacturing sectors, 8 in creative industries and 4 in infrastructure.

Since 2006 to the present date, Invest in Bogota has accompanied 384 projects which correspond to an estimate of 3 billion US dollars and has created over more than 45,000 direct jobs.

SOURCE Invest in Bogotá