- The agreement aims to identify and implement actions whose processes and procedures will strengthen the dynamics of Colombian agriculture.
- The inter-institutional contribution of both entities will streamline and simplify procedures to enhance the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and agroindustry for production and export.
- The business environment will be optimized through the streamlining of processes and procedures, within the framework of the “Simple State, Agile Colombia” strategy.
Bogotá D.C., October 21, 2020 – The Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism signed an inter-administrative agreement to join human, technical, administrative, and financial efforts to implement actions aimed at reviewing the regulatory framework across 12 key areas and virtualizing four processes.
This joint effort, aligned with the “Simple State, Agile Colombia” strategy, seeks to improve the competitive landscape and economic growth of agriculture and agroindustry, two of the country’s main productive sectors.
To move forward in areas with the greatest cross-cutting impact on the entire production chain, the following sectors and processes were selected for analysis, simplification, and automation:
· Veterinary medicines.
· Genetic material and its products.
· Animal cosmetics.
· Biologics (vaccines).
· Fertilizers.
· Pesticides.
· Adjuvants.
· Bio-inputs.
· Seeds.
· Commercialization of agricultural inputs and seeds.
· Vegetables for export.
· Laboratory registration.
“In the current context, virtualization has become essential to enable—or at least facilitate—the interaction between public entities and businesses. This has confirmed the importance of digital communication channels to ensure that procedures are carried out simply and quickly. With ICA, we will not only work on simplifying and eliminating procedures, but also on updating and harmonizing regulations to improve the competitiveness of agriculture and agroindustry,” said José Manuel Restrepo, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.
For her part, ICA’s General Manager, Deyanira Barrero León, stated that “the Institute will provide a specialized team to carry out the technological developments and simplifications needed in terms of procedures, regulatory barriers, and norms to fulfill the agreement’s objectives. This will enhance competitiveness, productivity, transparency, efficiency, and predictability of the business environment in Colombia through the establishment and strengthening of best practices.”
The Ministry will support ICA in reviewing the regulations for the 12 topics and virtualizing four of its processes and procedures.
‘Simple State, Agile Colombia’ is a strategy involving all state entities, led by the Presidency of the Republic. Coordination efforts are supported by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism; the Administrative Department of Public Function; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies; and the National Planning Department.
As Colombia’s sanitary and phytosanitary authority, ICA has joined this initiative through the implementation of the SimplifICA tool, which aims to provide better service to its users and support the sustainable development of the agricultural sector.
“SimplifICA was created to facilitate trade in agricultural goods and inputs, modernize information systems, simplify procedures, strengthen and automate processes, and incorporate risk-based models into inspection, surveillance, and control activities. By adopting international best practices, our experience in implementing this tool will support the activities proposed under this agreement,” added ICA’s General Manager.
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