Colombia. The Pacific Alliance was created on April 28, 2011, as a regional integration initiative promoted and shaped by Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru, and has been successfully developed benefiting a population of 216 million people with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$2.1 trillion, which represents 37% of the GDP of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Likewise, the United Nations report in the World Investment Report 2015 states "The four countries that make it up concentrate 50% of Latin America's trade with the world and registered in 2014 US $ 70,000 million of foreign direct investment".
According to the World Investment Report 2015, of a total of 3,741 investment projects that have reached the Pacific Alliance, 653 have been developed in Colombia, making it the second country with the highest number of initiatives related to the Alliance. According to the former Minister of Commerce, María Claudia Lacouture, "these projects came mainly from the United States, Spain, France and Chile, among others, and meant for Colombia in the creation of 106,707 jobs."
In relation to the audiovisual sector, this has shown exponential growth in recent years, in which different audiovisual alliances between Colombia and countries such as Mexico, Spain, Chile, and the United States, have opened doors for the commercialization of audiovisual content in different parts of the world. These opportunities have made Colombia a suitable destination for film production, referring to its locations. For this reason, the Pacific Alliance is and will be one of the great drivers for audiovisual production and realization in Colombia, configuring in the last 10 years a dynamic sector made up of 55,000 professionals in topics related to the audiovisual industry.
According to attendees and guests at the past Bogotá Audiovisual Market 2016 (BAM), Colombia is one of the best places for the development of audiovisual projects in the region with this type of events and with the help of alliances such as the Pacific we will be able to promote audiovisual production in our country.
Among the main reasons why 370 buyers present at the BAM consider Colombia as one of the best places for the development of audiovisual projects in Latin America, are the high level of professionalism of its entrepreneurs, the diversity of locations, the complete offer of services and tax benefits.
It is precisely this good dynamic that has made the BAM increasingly have representatives of important multinationals who come to the country in search of local talent and professionalism. This is the case of Hernán La Greca, Senior Creative Director of Original Production of Cartoon Network who during his visit and thanks to this event, has been able to know local projects in greater depth and explore future businesses with Colombian entrepreneurs, because, if we refer to the four countries that make up the Pacific Alliance, Colombia is the greatest exponent in the audiovisual field.
The audiovisual production industry moves more than US$133 million a year and is one of the most representative of the Colombian advertising industry, according to the 'Market Study Audiovisual Services in Colombia', carried out in 2016 by ProChile. On the other hand, the 'Analysis of the Audiovisual Sector', prepared by the National Pedagogical University of Colombia less than a year ago, gives a budget for the increase in the transformation that the Colombian audiovisual media industry has had lately, reaching $ 380,000 million (almost US $ 90.4 million) in 2016.
In addition to audiovisual productions, web series and video games, the sector feeds on other services that also play a fundamental role in the industry such as television, advertising, cinema, and others associated with audiovisual production and postproduction such as special effects, recording studios, digital composition, 3D animation, color correction, digitization, dialogue editing, equipment rental, voice listening, web content, re-recording mixers and music composers, among many more, are the main services that are generated around an increasingly demanding and specialized industry in our country.
Thus, Colombia serves as a gateway to a market of more than 500 million people in Latin America, where the country's cultural diversity and neutral Spanish represent an advantage in communication to all markets in Latin America. This, added to the collective support offered by the Ministry of Culture, Proimágenes, associations and associations, which lay the foundations for a high growth potential of the sector.
In terms of infrastructure, the investment promotion agency of Bogotá "Invest in Bogotá" has pointed out that the Colombian capital "is consolidated as the audiovisual epicenter of the country, with the highest concentration of production infrastructure and professionals in Colombia." This agency highlights that in Bogotá there are 74 film and television recording studios among the main companies in the sector: Caracol, RCN, FoxTeleColombia, RTI and Televideo.
In the specific case of the audiovisual industry, there are several factors by which it is predicted that it may continue to consolidate itself as an engine of economic growth in Colombia: the incentives created by the Government to promote investments in the sector; the infrastructure and diversity of locations, and the human talent trained in the area that the country has are listed as the most important. With the help of bam and the Pacific Alliance, new tools can be increased for the dissemination and information of the growth that the audiovisual sector has and will have in Colombia.
Text written by Suzy Sierra Ruíz, member of the National Television Board.
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