Perhaps the first thing is that we started from the very day we were elected. President Abelardo de la Espiella and I have been working every day, even from the very moment we were elected, and from that moment we began to carry out a number of activities, meetings with international actors, with actors from the private sector, even building public policy proposals, so that when the president really started his task on that day, August 7, and I already had a whole amount of work behind us, particularly as Vice President of the Republic, we began to work, under the instruction of President Abelardo de la Espiella, on defining a series of issues on which the Vice Presidency could act. [music] The power of a vice presidency, I call it in two directions. First comes the power of service. Here, a vice president comes to support the president of the Republic, you come to build with the president of the Republic, you come to follow the guidelines set by the president, and within that framework, the president has a purpose: the miraculous homeland. The miracle homeland has a path to achieve it, which is a miracle economy, as achieved by South Korea, Singapore, Northern Ireland, Chile, and Israel. And in that sense we need to grow, and the only way to grow is to coordinate all government actors so that Colombia grows by at least 6%. That can't be achieved solely through a wallet. A portfolio does its job and makes the effort to do it, but it is not only with infrastructure or energy or industry or agriculture that the growth bet will be achieved . It is achieved jointly because in the end, a large part of the growth strategies encompass a whole dynamic of governance. That's where the second power of the vice presidency comes in, the power to articulate. Articulate what? actors. I will then give an example based on the decree. Decree 1373 states, "One step towards Colombia growing at 6% is to move beyond an archaic state, a state that hinders productive activity, a state that has failed to incorporate artificial intelligence to make better public policy decisions, a state lacking interoperability. Let's bring together the actors involved in this. Who? The General Secretariat of the Presidential Palace, which has a key responsibility in modernizing the State. Let's bring together the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), which plays a crucial role in interoperability. Let's also bring together the Administrative Department of the Public Service, which handles a wide range of procedures. Let's bring together the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, which is leading a strategy to simplify obstacles in the country's economic activity, and other actors. This is where the first mission comes in: to help bring together all these actors so that Colombia can quickly advance in modernizing and simplifying the State, in the 'Plan DEVE' (a government initiative that was part of our campaign promises)." It focuses on interoperability and the use of artificial intelligence so that citizens can have a different way of interacting with the State. Then comes a second component. This second component, some might say, is solely an education issue. How do we transform the young people who are neither studying nor working into young people who are either studying or working? We have 2.5 million young people with infinite potential, and we haven't been able to take advantage of all their abilities because they're just sitting there waiting. Well, in Abelardo de la Espiella's government, that's not going to happen, and these young people are going to play a leading role. And that can be achieved through Education, without a doubt. It can be achieved through the Ministry of Science, and also through SENA (National Learning Service). But why don't we all come together around a proposal that, through short-cycle training programs, allows these young people to become employable and acquire new skills in artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain, drones, biotechnology, service, and bilingualism? That's the goal. That's what we call Talent Colombia. AI, which is the talent for artificial intelligence. And we're also going to integrate the program that the Ministry of ICT has around this purpose. So, look, there the second mission appears: to coordinate and bring together these actors so that we can respond very quickly in that direction. What are those resources with which we are going to envision Colombia in 2050? What are those resources that make us different in the world? And topics like strategic minerals begin to emerge: copper, lithium, nickel, rare earth minerals, or resources like energy, because Colombia is full of energy, solar energy, wind energy. So why don't we coordinate and bring together all the actors related to that? The Ministry of Energy and Mines, without a doubt, but also why not local authorities or the business sector? Why don't we start bringing together all these actors so that these strategic mineral projects , these energy projects, these infrastructure projects reach the country more quickly? That requires an effort at coordination, and that's where the power of AI comes in. Vice Presidency for that purpose. [snort] And then there are the projects of strategic national interest . Today in Colombia we have just over 270 projects. Those projects would be worth more than 600 trillion pesos. Why don't we prioritize the 50 most important ones and launch a portfolio of projects to conquer the world so that investors around the globe say, "I want to invest in that project." I want to make a bet in that direction for that project. Colombia has enormous energy capacity. Colombia has potential in wind energy, solar energy, hydropower, not only large hydropower plants, but also small hydroelectric plants. But Colombia could also have geothermal energy. Colombia could also have nuclear energy if it developed the capabilities and regulations. And we must be aware that in the next 30 years, perhaps as an Apple ex-executive pointed out, 99% of the world's energy will be for artificial intelligence and there will be more and more use of artificial intelligence. Either we develop more energy capacity or we will not be able to meet the world's needs. And I 'm not even talking about quantum computing, which is going to revolutionize the world's information system. So, what comes next is a much greater need for energy, and that need for energy will require this dose of technology or a technology-neutral approach with all these capabilities. That's why I say, just as we need to talk about the energy transition, which is good and the Minister of Mines and Energy is moving in that direction, we also need to talk about energy addition, that is, about creating new energy potential in this country. And that will be one of the big bets of Abelardo de la Piella's government. Therefore, this decree explicitly mentions coordinating and articulating the institutional framework, actions, and projects related to energy generation and transmission. Because the more energy projects we have , the better we will respond not only to the energy transition, but also to energy addition. From there arises the project portfolio where the intention is to build it with all the portfolios that have agricultural projects by agro-industry, industry, commerce, tourism, infrastructure, energy, mining, all have projects. Let's go out and conquer the world through the miracle weeks, that is, the miracle weeks, which will be held where, well, in the place where we find the resources. We're going to start with the United States, then Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and begin conquering the world with this portfolio of projects so that we can accelerate the arrival of projects more quickly and turn them into projects of strategic national interest to speed up decision-making, to make it simple, to create a kind of red carpet for those investors from around the world and from Colombia who want to invest in our country. [music] In general, to coordinate everything that allows Colombia to grow more, be more productive, and be more competitive in the end . In other words, let's achieve a miracle economy in a miracle homeland. The role of the vice presidency in no way replaces the role of ministries, entities, or government actors. All it does is articulate. It works to ensure that everything flows more easily in the country and thus have an economy that grows at 6%. That was Abelardo de la Priplieella's wager. The miraculous homeland. If we want to build a miraculous homeland, we have to bring together many actors. And note that the vice presidency can also bring together other actors. It can bring together universities or academia, it can bring together the productive sector, it can bring together international actors. All this networking that we are doing at a global level ultimately helps in this direction. It can connect the private sector, it can connect entrepreneurs, and it can connect the local public sector, the departmental public sector, and the national public sector. That is why we are convinced that this task of coordination is so important, something that had never really been designed as a role in the country, because normally the states did not have a platform for coordination and streamlining, well, the time has come to do it. That 's a very good question. Look, I say that there are certain essential requirements that underlie this growth strategy, which we need to work on, and the president has been working on them. More important than the scraped pot issue is the issue of insecurity, because there will never be a miracle economy with insecurity, both physical and legal security. That's why you go to President Abelardo de la Espidilla every day, informing us about the decisions regarding arrests, extraditions, the fight against crime, and territorial control, because to the extent that we end this extortion, we end these criminal drug trafficking groups, we end these criminal extraction or mining groups , to the extent that we truly attack these actors at their root, we will have security, and security is a sine equanon requirement for a miraculous homeland and a miraculous economy. Legal certainty, for example, will be required for projects as important as those that President Abelardo has announced for the high plains. The high plains project needs legal security on the land. Without that it's impossible. Then he has a commitment in that direction. Legal certainty also means having absolute clarity that consultations with communities cannot be a means of extortion, and the Minister of the Interior has said so and committed to that direction, and this government is already committed to achieving that goal. Therefore , legal certainty is also a sine qua non requirement. Legal certainty is achieved when environmental licenses, respecting the environment, do not become an obstacle to carrying out projects. And there you see decisions already made by this government. Environment Minister Fabio Arjona has made courageous decisions. He took it in the case of SPEC, he has taken it in the case of the dike canal, that is, he has made an effort to simplify and facilitate those environmental licenses without sacrificing the environment in any way. The same goes for the Minister of Mines with mining authorizations , because Colombia has every opportunity there. In legal certainty, the principle is that we have to guarantee prior consultation that does not become what it has become in many cases today, which is a source of extortion, a number of people who profit personally from prior consultations. Well, not even the communities benefit; it's certain actors who treat this as a private business that benefit, and it's become a form of blackmail by those actors against the productive sector. We will not allow that in the Abelardo de Las Piella government. And that is why the Interior Minister has proposed a path and is implementing it. He already has the decrees on that matter to try to get his house in order. First, the environmental license should be obtained simultaneously with the community consultation, and second, the community consultation should not become a source of extortion. Because if that's the case, then we won't be able to move forward. And we see the example in what happened with several of the energy projects in La Guajira that ended up leaving La Guajira due to the number of difficulties, obstacles, and complications. Who loses? No, investors don't, because they leave here for Peru or Central America. Guajira loses, Colombia loses, the communities of Guajira lose because they lose investment opportunities. That is what cannot happen in a country like Colombia. [music] It's happening , it's already happening. The fact that dozens of extraditions have been carried out in just one month of this administration demonstrates that Colombia will not continue to live in the same collusion with criminal groups that we have become accustomed to over the last four years, during which the government acted in collusion with criminal groups and ended up enthroning these criminals in the public square. For example, what happened in Alfujarra in Medellín, where those criminals, in addition to being made into peace brokers, were praised and with the participation of the government, even senators of the Republic, that is unacceptable in a country. That's not going to happen here. In the Priella government there will be a direct fight against organized crime and those total peace processes that are a total failure were dismantled and we are not going to continue in that show of what those processes meant. So, I think the world is already realizing that there is an authority here, a government with authority, a government with character, and a government that will confront criminal groups. And that's the first step. That is the first step towards building a better country. Well, then I think that already generated a signal of confidence. We are feeling it, we are even feeling it in the improvement of that country risk premium . We are feeling it in the recurring interest of many investors around the world who are saying, "We want to come to Colombia." They are expressing this publicly, and I think that's a good feeling, a good sign of what's to come for Colombia. So, physical security is needed, legal security is needed, and the second or third thing needed is a guarantee of clarity and truth in the management of public finances. Things have to be said directly and without ambiguity. The government of Abelardo de la Espriella didn't just inherit a scraped pot; they inherited a completely scraped pot. They took the pot and left it pawned. All three things simultaneously. The outgoing government irresponsibly left this country indebted. It's a government that left the country on the verge of exploding public debt. It's a government that left the worst fiscal deficit in Colombian history as if there were a pandemic, and there has n't been a pandemic. The only pandemic was that government. It's a government that also managed public credit with profound irresponsibility, leaving behind debt maturities... Billions in the very short term for the next government. That shouldn't happen. And I do believe that the judicial authorities should intervene so that this never happens again in the history of Colombia , because it's unacceptable that a government has to solve the entire mess left by the previous administration in this way. Fortunately, we have a Minister of Finance like Miguel Gómez Martínez who has told the country the truth, who has revealed the truth and said, "Look, this is the national budget, and it's a budget that is significantly larger than what they presented in those bogus or false medium-term fiscal frameworks, in those bogus national budgets," and he laid bare the country about what that meant. And he told the country the truth about what this will entail in terms of fiscal adjustment, but we didn't stop there. We defined a roadmap and Minister Gómez already has the roadmap to 2030 for how we are going to return to a primary fiscal surplus . That's what it means to be a responsible minister, that's what it means to have a responsible government. And the Abelardo de las Plillas government is a government that understands its responsibility because it manages public affairs, and public affairs cannot be managed haphazardly as happened in the last 4 years in the history of the country. I believe the minister [of music] is clear on how the fiscal adjustment program will be generated, but that's where the importance of this decree, 1373, comes in again, because the other platform to solve this problem is growth. And the bet on a Colombia Miracle with 6% growth is essential to balance the equation. And balancing the equation means fiscal adjustment. It means economic growth with physical security, legal security, and integrity. And that is perhaps the last component. Integrity means fighting corruption. And deep down, that has been a commitment that the government of Abelardo de Las Prella has been making since the first day of his administration. What does it mean? reveal what was done with the truth report and the volume that is coming, which are all the improper and irregular actions that have been found in each of the portfolios. You heard the health minister doing it very bravely. You heard the Minister of Mines doing it very bravely as well. To the Minister of Infrastructure, speaking openly and clearly. The Minister of Agriculture also said it openly to the Minister of ICT. All the ministries are doing it one after another, and that will lead to complaints before the oversight bodies. But we do expect decisions to be made because we cannot continue to live in a country that is mismanaged. The Minister of Commerce, Mauricio Gómez, has done a commendable job. Submitting a bill to simplify obstacles, procedures, and absurd regulations to the Congress of the Republic is a great first step. Simultaneously, I believe that, working with the public sector, we can identify which sectors are critical for these administrative procedures and try to eliminate them. We have identified them, construction is one of them, very complicated. Starting and closing a business is another one , very complicated. Regarding the issue of environmental licenses, the Minister of the Environment has already made a decision in that direction, or has taken decisions along those lines. But I believe there are a number of obstacles and bureaucratic hurdles that can be dismantled very quickly, and that is the path that comes next because citizens, micro-businesses, and merchants are fed up with so many obstacles and procedures. In this country, they issue 7,000 new regulations, resolutions, decrees, and circulars every year—20 per day, one while we are having this conversation—to make life more cumbersome for that citizen, that business, or that merchant. That is unacceptable. And the only way to deal with that is through the collaboration of many actors because the obstacles are creeping in from all sides; it's not just one department that has them, and it's not just a specific issue, it's long and complex processes. So, that's where this coordination is needed, and we're going to do it with the Ministry of Commerce, with the Civil Service, with the Ministry of ICT, and with the various stakeholders to try to identify obstacles and procedures and immediately make those decisions. And regarding new regulations, I believe the country should discuss the idea that was applied in the United Kingdom of one in to one out, one enters, two leave for every new regulation that is created to eliminate two. at least for a period of time. And that works because it allows the country to streamline decision-making. I have no doubt whatsoever because obstacles and complications only create incentives for corruption, because then corruption always appears to facilitate the procedures. So, I think there's a path we have to take, it 's not the only one. Note that a great university professor at Harvard said that the first component of the corruption equation is accountability. The more accountability there is, the less corruption exists. So the step to confront corruption is accountability. But this amount of obstacles and complications is another matter entirely. The more obstacles there are, the greater the chances of corruption . Therefore, one way to do it is to remove those obstacles. The more technology there is, the less corruption there is. The less interaction there is, the less discretion there is, and the less corruption there will be. And that is achieved with technology. That's why this articulation around interoperability, around online government, and so on, is so important. That's why it's essential. And the other component is social sanction, which is what is leading the charge. The more social sanction there is, the less corruption exists. That equation comes from many years ago, and I think what we need to do is learn from that equation and implement it. I believe that President Abelardo has already hit the right note regarding what that first step in confronting corruption should be, which is to verify all the contractual tangled web that the State has. He already asked each of the ministers and made it public in what I believe was the first Council of Ministers meeting, and he asked them and they are doing it. Because when you start to inject analysis into Colombia's contractual information , what are you going to realize? There are some contractors that are very curiously repeated, many that are repeated between portfolios, and some that follow simplification procedures outside of the traditional contracting requirements using direct contracting mechanisms or inter-administrative agreements with some very curious actors, and there one finds that there is a way to attack corruption. Then Abelardo de las Prillas was very clear and forceful. We have to go for that. Of course, there need to be rules for control, but it all starts with the integrity of those in charge. Therefore, actors with integrity in their actions are also needed, and those actions need to be constantly monitored . The director of DAPRE, the general secretary, is responsible for monitoring each and every contract that will be awarded under this government. This government acts with integrity, acts with transparency, and follows up on every contractual decision. Sadly, the last 4 years were not like that . And that's why we're seeing the cases that are happening, not even the ones we've pointed out, but the ones that the oversight bodies have already made public. I believe that governing is ultimately an improbable gamble in the sense that one never knows what one is up against. Of course, one has a general idea of what reality one is going to encounter. And Abelardo Las Pilles was very clear about it, and I was clear about what the fiscal reality was . It was worse than I had actually imagined. Look, what the health minister has found in health matters is a disgrace. I mean, it really is an abuse of people's health resources, of people's lives, but she already has the plan in place, that contingency plan to face the challenges in health matters and to address the needs of access to medicines, for example, to care for the actors in the health system who are suffering. And she very bravely made that series of decisions, but she also found a worse scenario than she had imagined, even though she knew the health system in detail, and that's how it is in all sectors. In other words, I could point to one example or another. Just look at what has happened with the destruction we received from 4 years of science, technology and innovation. Minister Benavides has found that and has begun to react by injecting resources into the science, technology, and innovation system. Because if there is no innovation there will be no growth, and it has to play a leading role in this growth strategy as well. So, we found that reality. But when I say it's an unlikely bet, it's because on my first day of work, I had already arrived because I have a steering committee meeting at 6 a.m. on Mondays, always in the public administration I do, but at 7:40 a.m., before really starting the workday in the strict sense, that earthquake happened, the worst in the history of Colombia, I think in 100 years, a devastating earthquake that affected 14 departments of the country. Nearly 500 municipalities in Colombia, where it takes the lives of more than 300 people, sadly, destroys more than 200,000 homes, 40,000 of them completely destroyed, more than 3,000 educational institutions destroyed, something similar in hospital institutions, civil infrastructure, and churches that represent the spirit of the people in the towns. And [snort] there President Abelardo takes the bull by the horns, assumes leadership, organizes the unified command post and we each go to each of the territories. I take over the department of Caldas, the Minister of the Interior does the same in Risaralda, and so does the Minister of Infrastructure in Valle del Cauca. Another minister, the Minister of Housing, is appointed to Chocó. And so we travel across the country to try to find out what the reality is, and we find a very sad reality, without a doubt. And that's where the first and most important thing begins. President Abelardo is clear about it: life. If you don't protect life, you 're nothing. That is to say, life came first, and then the national and international rescue teams arrived. The truth is that the national teams are spectacular because Colombia has a rescue team that is prepared, certified, available, and ready. They manage to do a very important task, and then comes the humanitarian aid stage. The First Lady of the nation has done an impeccable, brilliant job, trying to gather resources from national actors, international actors, and the private sector, and through a group of leaders in all regions of Colombia, begin distributing humanitarian aid to each of the affected people. That task is impressive. In other words, the first lady has made that issue a very significant part of her daily work. I believe that there has never been a first lady with those characteristics, with that determination, with that conviction, with that empathy to reach so many affected territories. There, in that management, comes the reconstruction stage, and in that reconstruction stage comes what we have been doing, visiting the rural municipalities, the rural areas, the urban areas, all the municipalities. I have been doing that in more than 30 municipalities in Colombia, practically all of those affected in the department of Caldas. We have even done it with my wife Tatiana, who has helped the First Lady in that humanitarian task, but also trying to detect the needs of the people in order to find humanitarian aid, especially in shelters and similar places. And now comes the stage of reconstruction and reactivation. And that is why President Abelardo is declaring an economic emergency, issuing 11 decrees and more are coming to try to address immediately, amidst the fiscal difficulties, a tragedy of this colossal dimension that we are witnessing. Well, that's what we've undertaken in 30 days, and I think it's all been done at breakneck speed, because imagine a week where you do n't even have the work teams, you don't even have the deputy ministers, barely even a minister, but in a ministry a minister is, yes, of course, the head, but there are a number of people who need to operate in the same direction, and it must be said, many of these actors who came from the previous government tried to torpedo what was being done to face that tragedy. Fortunately, we reacted very quickly and took control of this. And there was something that the United Nations resident coordinator, Dr. María José, told me, "I have never in my life seen such an agile and rapid reaction capacity as the one Colombia had in this tragedy." We are talking about a United Nations resident coordinator. He is not a Colombian person, he is a person who has traveled the world amidst tragedies like this. It is a demonstration of the power, the leadership that Abelardo de la Espriella has, his execution capacity, his managerial capacity. And that helps a lot in difficult times like the one we've recently experienced. The first thing is to have competent people. To have competent people in the exercise of the administration of international policy. And that starts with a chancellor who comes from the international world, who knows how international relations are managed . This continues with ambassadors like the ambassador to the United States, María Consuela Araujo, a woman who was the foreign minister of the Republic, who knows about international issues, who is fluent in second languages, or an ambassador like Ambassador Mauricio Agona at the United Nations, a competent man, extremely knowledgeable about international issues, and also a polyglot; in other words, this country has become accustomed to a shameful simplification of the actors who manage international relations. And that's what happened in the last 4 years, people who didn't really have any preparation for the administration of international affairs, well the government of Abelardo de la Espella gave dignity back to international relations and that's what has been done and the world recognizes it. In other words, one month into the administration and the United States Secretary of State , perhaps the second most important man in the entire world, is here in Barranquilla with the President of the Republic. That is a demonstration of the confidence that the world has in Colombia today, of the closeness that the world has with Colombia today. And I have experienced it in several international scenarios, in the closeness we had in almost eight high-level visits to the United States, even without being positioned, simply being vice president-elect and in delegation of President Abelardo de la Espiella. And now we are preparing for the United Nations meeting, where we will also have meetings at the highest level in a demonstration that today the world believes in Colombia, the world copies Colombia, sorry, the world believes in and copies Colombia. And that is no different from a country that returned to the international stage with dignity. This international scenario presents us with challenges. How can we attract the world's attention to what we are experiencing in the fight against insecurity and organized crime, how can we foster multilateral spaces for combating organized crime, how can we be a protagonist in what is called the Shield of the Americas, how can we assume a fundamental role in the fight against deforestation, and how can we also have a leading role in how to continue strengthening these relationships? multilateral issues that the world is experiencing today. And Colombia is going to play a very important role in the United Nations Security Council. This is a new role and Colombia is going to take it on with full responsibility for what that challenge means, right? I did know that we are playing democracy against non-democracy. The other formula represents the destruction of democracy, it represents the destruction of the country, it represents the absence of technical rigor, it represents the lack of integrity, it represents the inability to make decisions, it represents charlatanism, blah blah blah. So, when I saw that and simultaneously I saw the figures, because I did know the figures, I was the transition coordinator for President Duque's government and I handed it over to the Petro government and I knew what I was handing over and as I saw the current figures, I knew the deterioration and the destruction. I knew they left the health system collapsed, they left the energy system collapsed, they left an energy blackout looming, they left education in ruins. Hundreds or tens of thousands of young people each year are unable to access higher education due to ideological decisions made by an ideologized government, which was the Petro government. I was perfectly aware of the destruction they left the science, technology and innovation system in because I saw the figures. They destroyed the housing sector, and also the mining sector; they believed it was an enemy and therefore destroyed mining, they destroyed the infrastructure because they ended the concessions and the validity periods. So, I knew that they were handing over the country absolutely devastated. Well, that's where my responsibility comes in, because I could have believed in myself in the private sector, living in a peaceful condition and in my position as an academic and on several boards of directors. But I wouldn't forgive myself, and I don't think my children would either, for not taking responsibility when the country needed us most . And if we had fallen into that destruction of democracy and continued in collusion with criminal groups, as happened in the last 4 years, then we would have lost the country. The choice we were making was between rebuilding the country or destroying it. Fortunately, the country made the decision to recover it. Now what we must do is build the miracle nation, make Colombia fall in love with this new reality, and also demonstrate to Colombians that, unlike the previous government, this government, the government of Abelardo de la Priella, has a conscience, and that is that it will always be a symbol of national unity, that it will govern for those who voted for the Tiger and for those who did not , for both, because we represent that national unity, and today the country... After the tragedy, something positive emerged, I say, and that is that the majority of Colombians, the vast majority of Colombians, are united in facing this tragedy, and we understand that we have before us the task of building the miracle nation that we all deserve. So I invite all Colombians, those who voted for the tiger and for me speaking to you and those who did not, because they are all Colombians and for all of them there will also be a miraculous homeland.