September 21, 2016
Yara praises Colombian peace agreement and offers active support for rural growth
Agriculture and rural development are at the center of the peace agreement and Yara is ready to actively support the government and other stakeholders contributing to its success.
“We are investing more than USD 100 million in Colombia, contributing to growing productivity and prosperity in the Colombian countryside,” says President & CEO of Yara Svein Tore Holsether.
Yara is a long-term investor in Colombia, and the largest foreign investor in the country in 2014 (USD 425 million).
A third of the current investment is earmarked the Valle del Cauca region, one of the areas most heavily affected by the conflict and with a great potential for sustainable agricultural growth.
“Commercial agriculture is an engine for inclusive economic growth, and a strong tool for building and sustaining peace worldwide,” says Holsether who in a meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at the UN today offered Yara’s active support in driving rural value creation in the post conflict process.
The private sector has a key role in development that can create shared value and thus helping to bring peace and prosperity to all, according to Holsether. “I firmly believe that Yara is part of the solution to enable Colombia to produce more and better food on existing agricultural land. This is the best way to protect the 52 percent of Colombia that is covered by forest,” says Holsether.
Yara will in line with its vision of a collaborative society, a world without hunger and a planet respected take an initiative to mobilize and strengthen the private sectors commitment to rural value creation in Colombia.