expectations of the community. the country is full of examples of the outcome of this dialogue my government has promoted. social responsibility [unintelligible] columbia rejects why capitalism , untamed capitalism, and columbia rejects social class hatred. every day, we look for fraternity and the relationships between employers and workers. socialist possibility -- social responsibility is to realize that capital is a question for social wealth not for speculation. my country and our government

have given investors of of the guarantees to establish and prosper in columbia. under the condition of social responsibility. we do not share the ideal of hostility regarding investors. we are totally friendly with investors. we need investment in colombia. the only way for my country to prosper and overcome poverty and to include in this [unintelligible] the rate of embezzlement has passed from our administration -- investment has gone up to 28%.

during this year, in the middle of this economic crisis, during the first quarter, we had an investment rate of 25%. falling direct investment, it was in between $500 million, $1 billion, up $1.5 billion. during the last years, we had 6.5, $10,000,000,000.563999176. -- we had more than $10 billion. this year, we have more than $3 billion. we have had an increase of 16%.

in the comparison with international trade, our economy has performed this year comparatively well in the capacity to attract foreign direct investment. we have introduced many structural settlor reforms but every day we consider that we need to adjust our framework to advance with new reforms. it is necessary to have a clear goal. what do you want to reach? where is the place you want your country to arrive in? at the same time, to introduce the adjustments. we say, we refuse [unintelligible] we share the idea of introducing adjustments every day within the

line, looking for the big goal. so far, we have reformed 4727 state agencies. you cannot imagine how difficult it was banned. we introduced one labor reform and the possibility for the private sector to capitalize the estate on corp.s. you don't imagine how difficult it was. not because of technical difficulties but because of political obstacles. in this environment. we have advanced a lot.

we have restructured many the state institutions. if you visit our capital city, you see that we have transformed the public's hospitals that used to be long to the national agency for social security. there were a disaster prior to this administration. now with the reform, they have improved a lot. now we have many reforms for the upcoming months. one is going on in congress. a new role to introduce much

more speed in the provision of justice and the administration. we are in the process to create consensus between independent justice and administration, for congress to finally approved the reform. in the coming three weeks, my government is to -- my government is going to issue a decree to produce a deeply structured national agency of intelligence to cure this agency of its problems. i hope that my fellow citizens and the international community, we see these decrees. we continue in the process of introducing reforms in my country. i want to refer only to some

aspects in a location. [unintelligible] 57% to 78%, the middle of education. prior to this administration, we had less than 1 million university students. today, we are reaching 1,700,000. before, we lend money to 60,000 university students. today, we have almost 300,000 borrowers. we have advanced a lot in vocational training.

this vocational institution is funded by a tax on payrolls of two points, paid by employers. this year, that institutions should provide vocational training for 6 million colombians, and this institution is working in foreign countries to assist them in this field. this institution now reaches 1 million colombians and students to learn english as a second language through the internet. we are doing our best to overcome problems. my country has advanced a lot in childhood nutrition but we lag behind in education for

those under 6. in many areas of the country, because of the advances in education, [unintelligible] we lag behind in infrastructure. in the main cities, we have advanced a lot in connectivity but not yet in rural communities. by august of next year, the country will have connectivity for 80% of total students in state schools. columbia has completed 41 million people with health insurance. i recognize that we have problems.

[unintelligible] my government -- our country has to raisce. we have 400 hospitals. distinguished friends, we have made progress but we recognize that we have much more to do. colombians suffer a rate of poverty close to 60%. today, we are in between 37% and 43%, but the rate of social investment of military resources

has increased a lot. today, 2,700,000 poor families receive a subsidy from the government every two months for them to guarantee that children attend school. we have advanced a lot to provide for colombians with food coverage, education, and with free tuition. we have a program this year that confronts this economic crisis. the efforts to finance the government and to finance employers on one key component, to preserve investment confidence in our country.

we want to build columbia into the most attractive country for domestic and international investors to invest in with social responsibility. i know you have questions, comments, disagreements. and i have to be ready to take them. thank you. now the floor is yours. [applause] >> thank you very much, mr. ambassador. i did not recognize and should have earlier that we have two distinguished ambassadors here. we are delighted to have them. we will open it up for questions. we will begin with you. >> [inaudible]

my name is richard dawson. first of all, i want to congratulate you for your brilliant dispositions and very well balanced the covers the political, economical, and social aspects of your country. my question is about the farc . what do you think is the impact of the farc in the region? >> somebody very important in this country asked me three weeks ago, mr. president, do you consider that the progress columbia has made is irreversible? i said, not yet. we have weakened farc.

farc has diminished a lot in this administration. this narcotics trafficking terrorist organization still has the power to create many problems. for us to advance, we need effectiveness in other countries against this organization. if this organization can't find hideouts in other countries, this organization will never have the disposition, the likelihood to negotiate in columbia. we should understand that the best way to fill riches is by pressing farc, not by giving them hideouts.

the day before we left columbia, we visited one remote area. we have advanced a lot in illicit drugs eradication and providing people with social advances in health, education, electricity, utilities. this is not a paradise but it is a place making progress. before yesterday, the mayor and city councilors went to other rural communities.

they were fired by farc. the farc attacked them by explosives. the president of the city council was kidnapped 76 hours ago by farc. the members that produced that attack were furious, angry because the city councilor had been unable to stop my government from advancing in illicit drugs your medication. this is new evidence that, in columbia and as well as the international community, we need to make these groups [unintelligible]

my government has determination to fight them. we need much more resources but we do not lack determination. we have been very generous. during the 1990's, columbia saw the insertion of 4000 people. during our administration, we have received and are in the process of inserting over 50,000 people. we are as strong to fight them when they remain in violent activities are generous to receive them when they rethink their role and mobilize and come to terms with our constitution. >> mr. president, retired u.s.

diplomat. by an accident of geography, you have as a near neighbor a very theatrical chief of state who does not wish you well, does not wish the wonderful people of colombia of wealth and blocks some of the wonderful free color programs of your dynamic team here. this afternoon at 3:00, will you instruct your distinguished minister when they meet on that issue of honduras and the constitutional government to play a constructive role in blocking the effort of your favorite to hijack the inter- american system? >> spor[unintelligible]

if i cannot bear the bruden of st. paul lows, hikios, how cr the burden of st. peter? we are to be respectful. we ask for cooperation. we want conditions for social responsibility. we want freedoms in independent institutions. we want the country to meet standards of every modern democracy and we have to be very respectful. we are for corporations. we say, if you want a

corporation in columbia, please help us. and not allowing these people to find hideouts overseas. we request cooperation but we respect referring to honduras. the minister of foreign relations [unintelligible] yesterday, we had an opportunity to exchange ideas about this case. allied repeat, we need -- i repeat, we need to respect democratic decisions in every country. we need to respect that decisions made by people participation in accordance with their constitution and a lot of every country.

we need to respect political rights and at the same time we need to be totally a unbiased in the right of every country to determine its own path. we agree with the principle of respecting democracy in every country and with the principle of nonintervention. the principle of non intervention cannot be biased. i cannot say today that the side with intervention and at the same time tomorrow in a different circumstance to accommodate my interest to say, today, we need intervention. today, we don't need intervention. the principle of nonintervention should be permanent and

constant. with intervention, you create political problems. intervention creates problems. because of problems, you disrupt democratic institutions. therefore, there is a connection between the principle of non intervention with the principle of respecting the right of every country to determine its own destiny by democratic and constitutional means. >> mr. president, in the midst of an economic crisis as we are living, president obama has focused a substantial portion of his efforts towards the domestic agenda and in a sense has trade

in the international agenda in this regard has taken a back seat. that will change sometime soon. you just met with president obama and the fta is a very pending issue in the agenda. what role do you see ahead working with the administration in the prospects of moving ahead in congress? >> yesterday, the conversation with president obama was very constructive. i found him very interested in moving ahead with columbia. in the specific point of the political agreement. the political agreement with columbia is a question of

politics. it is of confidence, of friendship, it is convenient for both countries. the only way for columbia to provide some communities with real alternatives to the narcotics trafficking economy is through investment. we don't see the possibility to increase our exports to the united states in the near future. we have seen an adoption -- a huge reduction in our exports to the united states. keep in mind, some cities have fought a lot to overcome terrorists. my city has sustained it a big battle against the cartels on narcotics trafficking. my city has advanced a lot.

but my city has specialized [unintelligible] the main market is the united states. it is because the decline in this market, my city has seen an increase in the unemployment rate, up to 18%. therefore, we do not see possibilities to increase exports dramatically to the united states in the short term. but we need the agreement as a sign for investors from all over the world to be much more confident in columbia. it is quite difficult for my government to invite investors to put their money in colombia when they ask, "i want to put my money in columbia, but why

hasn't the united states approved the free trade agreement with columbia?" in a country with 46 million people, the only way for us to prosper is by having access to all of the market's, to all of the customers, to all of these suppliers, to integrate the international commute -- the international economy. it is quite difficult to negotiate with other countries when our minister of trade has a great goal for our administration. he has compared how close our economy was at the moment and when our administration began of how into the world economy should be by the end of the second term. we find one difficulty. some countries ask, explain to

me why the united states has not approved the free trade agreement with columbia yet. therefore, it is a necessary signal for our country. for instance, [unintelligible] your question gives me the opportunity to refer to this problem. first, what is the cost? i was a student at a public university in the 1970's. columbia was one of the two main targets for guerrillas in our subcontinent. guerrillas brought to our country the idea of a combination of a struggle. they killed and penetrated the

labor movement, the students' movement. journalists, politicians, and they created a paramilitary reaction. [unintelligible] career list began to kill them, accusing them of being traitors. the complexity my government found. since far before the beginning of negotiations with the united states, since prior to our election, we proposed to colombians a policy on security with democratic values.

that policy composed of 100 points. if we win the election, we are going to do our best to provide columbus with security and democratic values to protect teachers, journalists, mayors, city councilors. colombia has 101,102 men disabilities -- municipalities. they have many political arenas were my government has begun -- has more than 400 mayors could not attend their cities because of the threat they receive from terrorist organizations. more than 250 trade unionists were killed year by year.