Companies

Bancolombia 3Q 2017 Net Profit Dips 1% Year-on-Year; 2.5% GDP Growth Seen in 2018

Medellin Herald October 28, 2017

Medellin-based banking giant Bancolombia – Colombia’s biggest bank and now a growing multinational – reported October 26 that its third quarter (3Q) 2017 net profit dipped 1% year-on-year, to COP$1.7 trillion (US$564 million). However, Bancolombia’s gross portfolio grew 6.5% year-on-year to

General News

Medellin’s International Airport Expansions to Debut in December

Medellin Herald October 27, 2017

Colombia’s national infrastructure agency (Agency Nacional de Infraestructura, ANI) announced October 26 that expansions and upgrades to Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordova (JMC) international airport will debut in December 2017. The US$116 million project adds five more aircraft boarding tunnels, another 9,000 square meters of terminal space and additional independent power

Companies

PharmaCielo Wins 1st ‘Unrestricted’ Colombia License for Medical Marijuana

Medellin Herald October 24, 2017

Toronto, Canada-based PharmaCielo announced October 24 that it has become Colombia’s first medical-marijuana producer to win a license to cultivate cannabis with “unrestricted” percentages of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) alike. As a result, PharmaCielo becomes “the world’s largest licensed producer,” according to the company, which has its marijuana

Companies

USAID, European Buyers Team-up on ‘Better Gold Initiative’

Medellin Herald October 18, 2017

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced October 18 that it’s teaming-up with European-based gold buyers to promote environmentally, economically and socially responsible gold mining in Antioquia specifically and Colombia generally. Noting that gold production in Colombia is up year-on-year — and development projects underway are expected to

Ecotourism

World Wildlife Fund to Medellin Bird Festival: Tremendous Birding-Tour Growth Potential Seen Here

Medellin Herald October 17, 2017

In a keynote speech to the fourth annual Medellin Bird Festival (Festival de las Aves Medellin 2017), World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Colombia) strategic alliances director John Myers revealed that Colombia generally and Medellin/Antioquia specifically have tremendous potential for expanding profitable, socially beneficial birdwatching tours.  Citing two recent scientific

Culture

Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald: Claudia Gomez’s Lullaby in Birdland Arrives October 21

Medellin Herald October 12, 2017

American jazz aficionados instinctively know that a satisfying performance of a signature classic – as (for example) by the ever-elegant Ella Fitzgerald – must combine clarity, pitch, purity, control, range, richness, understatement and sincerity. However: Nobody will ever sing like Ella again (she died in 1996 at age 79). Even some contemporaries — such as […]

General News

Medellin Fourth-Best among Colombian Cities for Doing Business: World Bank

Medellin Herald October 9, 2017

A new report from the World Bank finds that Medellin is fourth-best among Colombia’s 32 departmental-capital cities in four key business categories: relative ease in starting a business, getting construction permits, registering properties and ease of paying taxes. According to the Doing Business in Colombia report (see:

Companies

Avianca Hails Court Decision Declaring ACDAC Pilots’ Strike Illegal

Medellin Herald October 7, 2017

Avianca – Colombia’s biggest airline – hailed an October 6 decision by a District Court Tribunal in Bogota declaring a strike by some 700 pilots belonging to the Asociacion Colombiana de Aviadores Civiles (ACDAC) labor-union as illegal. ACDAC– the smaller of two unions representing Avianca pilots — represents a tiny fraction of the more than […]

Congresses & Conferences

Medellin to Host 2nd Annual Colombia Gold-and-Copper Symposium November 14-15

Medellin Herald October 2, 2017

Some 250 executives of some of the world’s top gold-mining companies are forecast to attend the second annual Colombia Gold Symposium November 14-15 at Hotel San Fernando Plaza in Medellin. According to symposium organizer Paul Harris, delegates will hear presentations from more than 15 exploration and development companies including Minesa, Continental Gold, Red Eagle

Colombian economy

Coffee Helps Colombia’s 2017 Exports Rebound, but Manufacturing Lags

Medellin Herald September 29, 2017

The latest report from Colombia’s national economic statistics agency (DANE – Departamento Administrative Nacional de Estadistica) shows that Colombian exports through August 2017 are up 15.7% year-on-year and 19.5% for the first eight months of 2017. Antioquia once again leads all departments in the nation with an 18.8% share in total dollar value of exports […]