A cooperation agreement signed this week in Colombia will generate
1,500 jobs in the ethanol production industry for demobilized
combatants and vulnerable people.

They will be employed to plant 45,000 hectares (111,197 acres)
of sugar cane and to construct three ethanol production plants.
Each of the plants will produce 300,000 litres of ethanol per day
to be used for national consumption and for export.

The agreement between IOM, the High Presidential Commissioner
for Reintegration (ACR), and the Ethanol Consortium Board S.A.
(ECB), aims to bring together the resources and expertise of all
participants in order to foster the successful economic, social and
cultural integration of demobilized individuals and vulnerable
communities in the departments of Bolivar, Sucre, and Cordoba and
to promote the "Colombian-Caribbean Ethanol Project".

The project is funded by Controlsud International Group, through
ECB, and the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID).

IOM and the High Presidential Commissioner for Reintegration
(ACR) will provide technical support for the project which will
focus on the municipalities of Maria La Baja, Momil, and San
Onofre, all of which have a strong presence of illegal armed
groups, and which also suffer from high rates of rural poverty and
unemployment.

Juan Manuel Hernández, President of ECB explained: "This
project will not only create agro-industrial employment for this
population, but will also promote the access to much-needed
infrastructure through the creation of housing, health, education,
recreational, and cultural projects."

The ongoing conflict with illegal armed groups has forced more
than 1.5 million Colombians to flee their homes and become
internally displaced.

IOM’s Public Private Partnerships initiative aims to
create strategic partnerships with the private sector, the
international community and the Colombian government in order to
develop income-generating activities that promote the reintegration
of displaced population into civilian life.

For further information contact:

Jorge Andres Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: + 57 311 5619495 or 57 1 622 77 74 ext. 114

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@oim.org.co">jgallo@oim.org.co