Download Committee: ECOFIN

Committee: Economic and Financial Committee
Topic: Informal Trading Sectors
Country: Colombia
Delegate: Joe O’Connor, The Albany Academies
One of Colombia’s most serious concerns is their illegal trade. They have
struggled for many years with this issue due to the government’s opposition to it and the
lack of enforcement on it. In Colombia, the informal trading sector is a fundamental
societal problem that has been hard to over come due to lack of government transparency
among other reasons. Particularly, the informal trading sector related to the illegal drug
industry (narcotics) has been very detrimental to Colombia’s domestic economy and
international reputation. As a member of the Economic and Financial Committee, the
Colombia United Nations are strongly opposed to lack of enforcement against illegal
trade, money laundering, and offshore banking.
At the root of this problem is government conflict of interest and corruption.
Many in Colombia are dependent on illegal drug revenue to earn income. Furthermore,
many Colombians are employed in the growing, distributing, and laundering of these
illegally traded goods.
Although Colombia has taken great steps in recent years towards opening up
trading routes and developing a more transparent economy, they still have a long way to
go. Various trade agreements have been made to solve these problems and the United
States has been very helpful to us. The Andean Trade Preference Act was enacted in 1991
to combat drug trafficking and production. It offers trade benefits to help the countries
involved (Colombia being one of them) develop and strengthen legitimate as opposed to
illegal industries. The Colombian government created Plan Colombia to make strides
toward a more anti-drug country. ''Large coca farmers have been eliminated, along with
power of large cartels," said Sandro Calvani, chief of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime
in Colombia. ''Were it not for Plan Colombia, cocaine would be so cheap in America you
could distribute it door-to-door like milk or pizza."
The source of the problem is the lack of enforcement in this illegal trade, money
laundering, and offshore banking. The economy’s dependency on this illegal trade
contributes greatly to the lack of enforcement regarding illegal trading sectors. With
continued help from outside countries and support within our country I believe this
problem can be solved.