The Arabs are coming

In the first days of March and amidst the greatest reserve, six technicians arrived in Bogotá. They work for Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s state organization for promoting investments, and they are interested in analyzing the possibility of investing in Colombia, in the sectors they lead: infrastructure, oil, energy, real estate, telecommunications, tourism and health.

This Arab interest is good news, bearing in mind that the financial collapse is starting to place restrictions on international credits. Mubadala has assets of about US$10 billion, and its main goal is to get Abu Dhabi’s economy to change from being basically based on oil and gas to one where many sectors with added value are developed.

This explains the interest it has had in new businesses. It signed a joint venture with Indra, the main information technology multinational in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe and Latin America -the sales of which amount 2.1 billion euros-, in order to develop technologies and carry out common projects. Furthermore, it also signed a deal with Rolls Royce to form a company that will carry out repairs and maintenance on aircraft engines.

In the recent past, Mubadala bought 8 per cent of AMD, a global supplier of microprocessors, for US$622 million; it also bought 7.5 per cent of Carlyle Group -one of the world’s biggest private capital funds- for US$1.35 billion and, apart from that, it acquired a stake in Ferrari.

This tour was a result of the visit that Colombian president Alvaro Uribe and Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Luis Guillermo Plata, made to the United Arab Emirates in October, and after the meeting they held at the Davos World Economic Forum with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s prince and president of Mubadala.

“The most important aspect of this visit is that Colombia had not had a proactive experience with countries in the Middle East, just as the Arabs had not had one with our region”, Minister Plata explained. In that sense, Colombia can become a platform for countries in the Middle East that want to come to Latin America. The same can happen the other way round.

In a meeting with Colombian businessmen (led by Luis Carlos Villegas, President of ANDI, the national business association of Colombia), Jassem Mohamed Al Sabih (CEO of Al Yah Satellite Communications Company Yahsat, a company owned by the Mubadala group) highlighted the cooperation between the government and the private sector to promote businesses, the quality of human resources and the investment opportunities offered by the country.

If Colombia wants to make the most out of this opportunity, it will need to move quickly and design attractive projects which can also be attached to the productive transformation process the government has attempted to promote.

Colombian golfer Camilo Villegas received an award by Álvaro Uribe

Currently seventh in the Oficial World Golf Ranking, Colombian golfer Camilo Villegas received the Order of San Carlos from President Álvaro Uribe on Wednesday during a ceremony that took place in the Government Palace.

“I don’t do what I do for a living to receive awards, but when they arrive I know that I’m going in the right direction. This is a huge motivation for me to keep giving my best and be a good ambassador of our country,” said Villegas during a press conference following the ceremony.

Villegas visited the country to open the Club Colombia Masters in the Country Club in Bogotá for which he hosted a golf clinic and a nine-hole exhibition.

Ecuador sends more troops to border with Colombia

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said the situation in the border with Colombia was difficult, so he sent 3,000 more troops to stop illegal armed groups from crossing over to his country. These new troops will be joining the 7,000 soldiers and more than 3, 000 policemen already in the area.

This decision is a part of Correa’s demands in order to resume relations with Colombia, which have been unstable after a Colombian military attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador in March 2008.

president Uribe and Riz Khan; speak about the U.S, drugs, and Violence

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe speaks to Al-Jazeera journalist Riz Khan about the relationship between Colombia and the United States in Obama’s government and the country’s policy against paramilitarism and the FARC. Uribe also answered if he feels isolated in a region where most of the leaders are left-leaning.

China vs. Colombia: When human rights matter. And when they don't.

Judging by her Asian tour, Hillary Clinton clearly thinks she is more realistic about the world than her predecessor. The Secretary of State said, for instance, that pressing China on human rights "can't interfere" with cooperation between Washington and Beijing on other issues like the economic crisis or climate change. But strangely -- or perhaps not so strangely -- Mrs. Clinton and her boss seem to have a far more pinched conception of realpolitik when it comes to Colombia.

Recall that last year Nancy Pelosi rewrote House rules to scuttle the Bush Administration's free-trade agreement with Bogotá solely on human-rights grounds, even after the pact had been rewritten to include new union protections. President Obama explained last fall that he was opposed because "The history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination, on a fairly consistent basis, and there have not been prosecutions."

Actually, antilabor killings have dropped by almost 87% under President Álvaro Uribe, and convictions have gone up sharply. Yet neither Mr. Obama nor his top diplomat have lifted a finger to move the Colombia deal -- which would open new markets for U.S. exporters when most Colombian goods already enter the U.S. duty-free, as well as strengthen a crucial ally in Latin America. This one should be easy, but the AFL-CIO and the rest of organized labor have ordered that no vote ever occur, and Democrats have so far obeyed.

At least there's some logic to Mrs. Clinton's economic pragmatism toward China, especially given its importance in buying U.S. Treasurys to finance Mr. Obama's spending programs. But the Administration's Colombia calculation has less to do with a foreign policy rooted in the nation's best interests and more with the special interests that own the Democratic Party