Capital:  Bogota 
Population: 45,644,023 (July 2009 estimates.)             
Currency:  Colombian peso (COP) 
Language:  Spanish but business community is generally bilingual
Time zone:  UTC/GMT -5 hours                         
Chief of State: President Juan Manuel Santos  

• GDP real growth rate :
  
  • 3.5 % (2008 est)
  • 7.5% (2007 est)
  • 6.9%(2006 est)
• Exports:  $41.08 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)   
• Main Export Partners:
  
  • US 35.4%
  • Venezuela 17.4%
  • Ecuador 5.3%
• Imports:  $38.88 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
• Main Import partners:
  • US 26.2%
  • China 10.1%
  • Mexico 9.3%
  • Brazil 7.3
  • Venezuela 4.2%
• Country dialing code: +57
• Emergency numbers: 156 to contact police 132 for medical assistance           
• National Airline: Avianca (partner with Air Canada, Delta, Iberia, Mexicana, Taca, Satena)
• Voltage: 110V    

Detailed country profile

ECONOMY

GDP real growth rate:

• 2008: 3.5%
• 2007: 7.5 %
• 2006: 6.9 %

GDP -Composition by sector (2008)

• Agriculture: 9.4%
• Industry: 36.6%
• Services: 54%

Labor force by occupation:

• Agriculture: 22.4%
• Industry: 18.8%
• Services: 58.8%

Agriculture products:

• Coffee
• Cut flowers
• Bananas
• Rice
• Tobacco
• Corn
• Sugarcane
• Cocoa beans
• Oilseed
• Vegetables
• Forest products
• Shrimp

Industries:

• Textiles
• Food processing
• Oil
• Clothing and footwear
• Beverages
• Chemicals
• Cement
• Gold
• Coal
• Emeralds

Export: $41.08 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)   

Export Commodities:

• Petroleum
• Coffee
• Coal
• Nickel
• Emeralds
• Apparel
• Bananas
• Cut flowers

Main Export Partners:

• US 35.4%
• Venezuela 17.4%
• Ecuador 4.3% (2008)

Imports: $38.88 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Import commodities:

• Industrial equipment
• Transportation equipment
• Consumer goods
• Chemicals
• Paper products
• Fuels
• Electricity

Import partners:

• US 26.2%
• China 10.1%
• Mexico 9.3%
• Brazil 7.3%
• Venezuela 4.2%

Ports and Terminal:

• Barranquilla
• Buenaventura
• Cartagena
• Santa Marta
• Turbo

Unemployment rate: 11.8% (2008 est.)

Management of financial crisis:

Economic growth slipped in 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis and weakening demand for Colombia's exports. In response, URIBE's administration has cut capital controls, arranged for emergency credit lines from multilateral institutions, and promoted investment incentives such as Colombia's modernized free trade zone mechanism, legal stability contracts, and new bilateral investment treaties and trade agreements. The government has also encouraged exporters to diversify their customer base away from the United States and Venezuela, Colombia's largest trading partners.

GOVERNMENT

Government Type: Republic; executive branch dominates government structure

Executive Branch:

Chief of state: President Juan Manuel Santos (since 7 August 2010);
Vice President Angelino Garzon (since 7 August 2010);
Note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Cabinet: Cabinet consists of a coalition of the three largest parties that supported President URIBE's reelection - the PSUN, PC, and CR - and independents
Elections: president and vice president elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held in May 2010 (next to be held in May 2014)

Legal system:

• Four supreme judicial organs:
• Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (highest court of criminal law; judges are selected by their peers from the nominees of the Superior Judicial Council for eight-year terms)
• Council of State (highest court of administrative law; judges are selected from the nominees of the Superior Judicial Council for eight-year terms);
• Constitutional Court (guards integrity and supremacy of the constitution; rules on constitutionality of laws, amendments to the constitution, and international treaties);
• Superior Judicial Council (administers and disciplines the civilian judiciary; resolves jurisdictional conflicts arising between other courts; members are elected by three sister courts and Congress for eight-year terms)

GEOGRAPHY

Land Boundaries:Total: 6,309 km

Border countries:

• Brazil 1,644 km
• Ecuador 590 km
• Panama 225 km
• Peru 1,800 km
• Venezuela 2,050 km

Climate:Tropical along coast and eastern plains. Cooler in highlands

Terrain:

• Flat coastal lowlands
• Central highlands
• High Andes Mountains
• Eastern lowland plains

Elevation Extremes:

• Lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
• Highest point: Pico Cristobal Colon 5,775 m
• Note: nearby Pico Simon Bolivar also has the same elevation

Natural resources:

• Petroleum
• Natural gas
• Coal
• Iron ore
• Nickel
• Gold
• Copper
• Emeralds
• Hydropower

Environment and international agreement:

• Antarctic Treaty
• Biodiversity
• Climate Change
• Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
• Desertification
• Endangered Species
• Hazardous Wastes
• Marine Life Conservation
• Ozone Layer Protection
• Ship Pollution
• Tropical Timber 83
• Tropical Timber 94
• Wetlands

Signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea

Environment and current issues:

• Deforestation
• Soil and water quality damage from overuse of pesticides
• Air pollution, especially in Bogota, from vehicle emissions

PEOPLE

Ethnic groups:

• Mestizo 58%
• White 20%
• Mulatto 14%
• Black 4%
• Mixed black-Amerindian 3%
• Amerindian 1%

Languages: Spanish but the business community is generally bilingual

Religion:

• Roman Catholic 90%
• Other 10%

HISTORY

Express History

Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Ecuador and Venezuela). A 40-year conflict between government forces and anti-government insurgent groups and illegal paramilitary groups - both heavily funded by the drug trade - escalated during the 1990s. The insurgents lack the military or popular support necessary to overthrow the government, and violence has been decreasing since about 2002. More than 32,000 former paramilitaries had demobilized by the end of 2006 and the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) as a formal organization had ceased to function. Still, some renegades continued to engage in criminal activities. The Colombian Government has stepped up efforts to reassert government control throughout the country, and now has a presence in every one of its administrative departments.

Sources: www.cia.gov

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>>Find the latest Trade Agreements with Colombia, click here Trade Agreement Colombia

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