US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA7911

UNCLAS BOGOTA 007911 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELTN, CO 
SUBJECT: Federal Highway Administration Meets with Roads and 
Highways Experts in Colombia 
 
1.  Summary.  Officials from the Federal Highway 
Administration's (FHWA) Office of International Programs 
visited Bogota, Colombia on August 3rd and 4th.  They met 
with officials from the Colombian Department of 
Transportation as well as experts in the field of highway 
safety.  The trip allowed a dialogue between major players 
within the industry.  It also laid the groundwork for a 
future Memorandum of Cooperation between the USG and GOC. 
End Summary. 
 
2.  Henry Nevares, director of the FHWA's Office of 
International Programs, and Michael Avery, Western 
Hemisphere team leader, held several meetings with key 
transportation officials during their two-day trip to 
Bogota.  Juan Ricardo Noero, Viceminister of Transportation 
welcomed the delegation, noting that this was the first 
meeting of its kind since he had taken office in August of 
2002. 
 
3.  During the meeting, the FHWA discussed creating a 
Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) to create a framework to 
support technology transfer and information sharing e.g. 
facilitating technology transfer to address road safety . 
Noero expressed interest in beginning discussions toward an 
MOC, and both parties agreed to maintain an open line of 
communication to strengthen relations in the highway sector 
between both nations. 
 
4.  In discussions with academia FHWA representative, 
Nevares explained that universities and other learning 
institutions are critical to the success of the memorandum. 
Nevares suggested that hosting occasional conferences would 
offer a chance for road and highway experts to meet and 
exchange technology, best practices and other transportation 
information.  Participants would convene, share their 
problems, and leave with collective solutions. 
 
5.  The FHWA also met with Maximiliano Gonzalez Henriquez 
and Guillermo Emigdio Alean Madrid, from the Ministry's 
National Institute of Concessions (INCO) to stress the 
importance of the MOC to facilitate cooperation between 
countries, such as in developing strong safety standards. 
Nevares explained that the MOC could facilitate the creation 
of a central technology transfer center, allowing the 
government and other organizations to provide standardized 
training at a centralized location.  Henriquez and Madrid 
stated that since INCO's current highway data collection 
system is antiquated, they were especially interested in 
technology transfer opportunities. 
 
6.  On August 4, the FHWA hosted a lunch to bring together 
the major players in Colombia's land transportation 
industry.  Attendees included city and nationwide 
transportation officials, transportation experts from major 
universities, as well as representatives from the trucking 
industry and Colombia's truckers' union.  Many of the 
participants noted that they rarely have the opportunity to 
meet as a group.  Director Nevares extended an invitation to 
the group to continue the bilateral dialogue. 
 
7.  The FHWA also met with Mauricio Ramirez, Director of the 
National Highways Institute (Invias).  Ramirez also 
supported the idea of an MOC and shared information about 
road safety/security issues. Ramirez told the delegation 
that the number of attacks against road infrastructure in 
Colombia dropped from 37 incidents in 2004 to just 2, as of 
the first week of August 2005.  The improvement, according 
to Ramirez, is due to Invias' efforts to use some toll road 
receipts to finance Special Forces (army and police) to 
increase road protection, monitoring and rapid response 
capability. 
 
8.  To further bolster highway security, Ramirez noted that 
Invias created special monitoring units consisting of 
motorcycles, cars, and trucks equipped with GPS devices to 
patrol the country's roads.  Additionally, communities have 
formed communication networks to improve road safety 
efforts.  As a result, road traffic has increased 24 percent 
per year during the administration of President Uribe. 
 
 
Callaghan