NOTICIAS

WFZO Congress / Intervention Margarita Herrera Calle / CEO of Zona Franca Santander

Firstly, we want to thank in a very special way to the World Free Zone Organization for this invitation in order to share with you how Santander Offshoring & Outsourcing Park adapted during the Pandemic and how we promoted new projects, new products and new jobs.
We are located in Santander - Colombia. In our 10 years of operation, we have installed 56 companies in the park with a huge emphasis in services, working on site or remotely due to the flexibility of the Government laws. Our users are focused on life science, industry 4.0, high value-added manufacturing, agro-industry as well on logistics, and distribution, all of them supported in the Free zone regime incentives.

As administrators of the Free Zone we act quickly and efficiently in the design and implementation of biosafety protocols to guarantee the safety of our community; we were pioneers in working with the Major’s office of the city, in order to reactivate the economic activities of our companies and, we were also one of the first Colombian Free Zones to obtain certification of biosafety operations.

It is noteworthy that during the emergency from Santander Offshoring & Outsourcing Park:

• We were one of the first Free Zones that had the official visit from the Government, thus recognizing our contribution to the economic and business reactivation.

• In the life sciences sector, we highlight Coopidrogas and Unidrogas, two of the largest pharmaceutical Distribution Centers in Colombia for keeping the logistic in all the region. •Other example Ninox an industrial company, have drove their efforts on manufacturing protection mechanisms and tools that allow fighting COVID-19, including a cabin for sampling, a physical barrier which provides security to health personnel in the development of medical procedures. Additionally, in a joint development with Ecopetrol – the most important oil&gas company in our country -, they design and build a mobile laboratory with advanced technology for taking samples and processing them in record time; this unit is self-sufficient in energy and It is fitted for the countryside.

Nowadays, our business park has remained totally operational, we qualify new users, and we implement new forms of operation. Our community is made up of more than 2200 jobs with the largest increase in job generation since the beginning of our operation. Once again, we appreciate this space granted to share our experience from the Santander Offshoring and Outsourcing Park, a Free Zone where we are constantly growing and always committed to business development and competitiveness.