Pact for the growth of the Orange Economy

Taking into account the importance of the Orange Economy within the framework of the National Development Plan of Colombia for the period 2018-2022, the Presidency of the Republic led in 2019 the construction of a Sectoral Pact for the Growth of the Orange Economy Sector. The sectoral pacts are a government strategy based on public-private agreements aimed at accelerating the economic growth of the country, through the revitalization of a set of economic activities that, due to their supply conditions, demand potential, capacity of adding value and positive externalities, can generate relevant changes in the national production structure. The sectoral pacts have tools grouped into the 7 strategic axes established in the National Development Plan 2018-2022. Additionally, the dialogue between the Government, trade unions and businesspeople opens up the possibility to scale, define or create new tools aimed at boosting sector growth.

In the development of partnership exercises with the private sector for the creation of the Pact for the Growth of the Orange Economy, the following problems or gaps were identified:

1. Absence of long-term guidelines agreed with the private sector, the artistic community and territorial entities to strengthen the Orange Economy
2. Deficiencies in procedures, permits and requirements
3. Lack of regulation of the incentives for the business development of the Orange Economy
4. Cultural and creative organizations have difficulty accessing the financial market
5. Lack of mechanisms for measuring and disseminating statistical information on the orange economy
6. Outdated Intellectual Property Policy, and ignorance and lack of familiarity with intellectual property instruments
7. Weaknesses in the supply, demand, quality and relevance of academic programs
8. Weak access to the institutional offer to strengthen the organizations of the Orange Economy
9. Lack of positioning of the talent and creativity of the agents of the orange economy
10. Difficulty in connecting orange economy organizations and companies with other links in their sector and in other productive sectors
11. Limited access to financing for creative and cultural infrastructure

Based on this diagnosis, the Growth Pact established 30 specific actions that 11 entities of the national government and a private sector association committed themselves to apply to overcome the gaps that affect the development of the creative and cultural sectors. Below are some example of these actions:

* Private-public work tables and signing of inter-institutional memoranda of understanding
* Collection of inputs and generation of knowledge for decision making
* Regulatory adjustments to reduce procedures and incentives for the sector
* Development of public policy guidelines documents and Conpes
* Training, qualification and promotion pilot programs for the sector on relevant topics
* Raising awareness about the financial sector and promotion of financing mechanisms

In order to comply with this pact, the commitments of the different bodies are recorded in a monitoring instrument built by the National Planning Department based on quarterly milestones. Likewise, the Pact has the technical leadership of the Ministry of Culture and the constant accompaniment of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Republic. In this way, the implementation of the different actions is fostered through the coordinated work of several national government entities.