Multinational sporting goods company Nike closed a million-dollar deal with Colombian company Fanalca which will create 2,000 jobs in the cities of Cali and Pereira according to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
The deal was made hours after U.S. Congress approved the free trade agreement with Colombia and will lead to 1,000 jobs in Cali and 1,000 in Pereira, President Santos said Saturday in Pereira, the capital of Risaralda in the Coffee Region.
“On Thursday night, the respectable directors of the Colombian company Fanalca told me that Nike, the famous company that produces sporting goods, was waiting for that approval and now the $100 million order to produce material reached us,” Santos said.
He said that the government will be in constant dialogue with the Colombian manufacturing sector in order to make the most of the entrance into the U.S. market, one of the biggest in the world.
“We are going to work with the professional organizations, with the workers, with all the agents of the manufacturing sector to make the most of this trade deal,” said Santos. “It is a unique opportunity for small and medium sized companies to have the most important market in the world open to them, 300 million consumers.”
He said that as with Fanalca there are many Colombian companies that are now beginning to report deals after the ratification of the U.S.-Colombia commercial treaty, which will result in the generation of employment.
“If we do well as we make the most of the FTA, there is going to be tremendous benefit for our development … One of our fundamental objectives is the generation of employment, well-paid, formal employment,” said the head of state.
