Colombia: optimism takes a grip

FALLING crime levels, a relatively strong economy and a desperate desire to increase domestic crude production have combined to make the country ripe for investment from international oil firms. 'Confidence is back,' says Armando Zamora, director general of the national hydrocarbons agency (ANH), which was set up in June 2003 to generate inward investment in Colombia's oil sector. 'The state is winning its war against terrorism and the drug traffickers, and new [hydrocarbons] legislation is reviving interest in the hydrocarbons sector.' In an effort to attract foreign firms to the oil sector, President Alvaro Uribe's government has cut taxes and charged the ANH with the awarding of new contr