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News > Latin America

Colombia Names New Director for Country's Peace Fund

  • A supporter rallying for the nation’s new peace agreement with FARC holds a sign reading

    A supporter rallying for the nation’s new peace agreement with FARC holds a sign reading "We have an agreement" during a march in Bogota, Colombia. | Photo: Reuters

Published 24 April 2018
Opinion

Many of those funds set up after the peace agreement between the government and FARC have been marred with allegations of mismanagement.

Financial expert Mary Gomez Torres was named Monday by the Colombian government as director of the Sustainable Colombia Fund, in charge of managing resources for peace.

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The fund was created by President Juan Manuel Santos with purpose of obtaining international and private sector economic support to promote rural development and tackle climate change in the country’s areas mostly affected by the conflict.

The appointment of the new director was endorsed by the ambassadors of the sponsor and donor countries, said Norway's ambassador to Colombia Johan Vibe  in a letter addressed to Colombia’s deputy finance minister, Andrés Velasco, who chairs the Fund's Steering Committee.

"We agree that the balance between their professional and personal capacities is better suited to the challenges of coordinating a fund such as Sustainable Colombia, as a second alternative we propose to Mrs. Adriana Soto," the letter says.

In the letter, Vibe ratified the interest to continue the work "in favor of the success of such an important initiative".

The Colombian government adopted 13 measures last week with which it intends to make more efficient and transparent the handling of the money in the post-conflict period, and streamline productive projects that will benefit former fighters of the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"A series of decisions were taken that allow the government to accelerate the implementation of the agreements, especially those related to productive projects and, at the same time, ensure transparency in the execution of peace resources," said Colombian Vice President, Oscar Naranjo.

Earlier this month the director of the Colombia in Peace Fund, Gloria Ospina, was dismissed by the government over alleged irregularities in the management of resources donated by the international community for the implementation of these projects.

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