Free zones and infrastructure, a vital relationship for competitiveness: the case of Andean free trade zone in Caldas, Colombia

Abstract

Free trade zones  are a valuable tool to achieve competitiveness.  This document  aims to make visible the  strong  relationship between  the necessary  and optimal infrastructure in a region, which must be linked to current and future projects in other regions,  production linkages, relevance and  optimization works such  as  highways, dry ports, airports , storage areas, etc with the success of a free trade zone.

That is, the free zone fulfills its mission purposes and effectively constitute a regional development support and contribution to job creation, increased GDP of the territory, added  value of productive activities, attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI), diversification of supply of goods and services for domestic  and  international markets;  and obviously the contribution to the competitiveness of the city and the department.

Importantly, this  document   is  estimated   as  a preliminary result of a research  on development and entrepreneurial competitiveness  of the Department  (State) of Caldas  in the  context  of economic integration.