While the number of foreigners coming to metro Medellin for relatively low-cost, high-quality medical and dental procedures continues to grow, windows of opportunity have only just started to open.

The just-issued annual report by the metro-Medellin-based Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) finds that Antioquia and other parts of Latin America are starting to make progress in their quest to overcome enormous problems confronting the gold-mining industry.

Colombia’s national infrastructure agency (ANI) announced October 21 that financial close has now been achieved on the “Pacifico 1” (Medellin to Bolombolo) highway project and the related “Pacifico 2” (Bolombolo to La Pintada) projects.

Medellin’s investment promotion agency ACI (Agencia de Cooperacion e Inversion de Medellin y el Area Metropolitana) on October 20 touted the city’s French connection for a just-launched, road-based tram system as well as two new, related aerial trams.

A new study by the Chamber of Commerce of Medellin for Antioquia (CCMA) shows that the biggest 1,030 companies in Antioquia account for 80% of the department’s exports, worth more than US$4 billion annually.

A new study by the University of Antioquia and University Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) finds that Antioquia’s COP$12 trillion (US$4 billion) “Prosperity Highways” to be built over the next five years will have a huge impact on economic growth, jobs and freight transport logistics.

Relatively safe investment options for real estate in Medellin include not only existing houses, apartments and commercial real estate, but also well-defined lots inside fully permitted “parcelacion” gated communities.

Foreigners exploring metro Medellin to buy a residence, a commercial property or a rental will find that the safest, lowest-risk approach is to acquire an existing apartment, an existing house, an existing building or a well-defined lot inside a fully permitted “parcelacion.”

Colombia’s national statistics agency (DANE) on October 18 released an analysis showing that Antioquia’s gross domestic product (“PIB” in Spanish initials) grew 7% for all of 2014 – third best in all Colombia and more than one-third greater than the PIB growth in Bogota.

Following in the footsteps of Saint Jerome Emiliani – a former Italian soldier whose charitable works prompted the Catholic Church to name him the patron saint of orphans – a group led by U.S. military veterans is now spearheading a project that aims to help orphans in metro Medellin.