Petro celebrates the approval of its National Development Plan

The Colombian Congress approved at midnight on Thursday the National Development Plan (PND) of President Gustavo Petro for the next four years, which includes resources of more than 1,154.8 billion pesos (about 250 million dollars).

The PND, which was named by the Executive as ‘Colombia world power of life’is focused on Petro’s policy of “total peace”, with which he seeks the disarmament of the country’s armed groups.

“The Congress of the Republic has approved the National Development Plan: “Colombia World Power of Life”; with my signature it will become a law of the Republic and our government will begin fully”, Gustavo Petro wrote from his Twitter account, at dawn on Wednesday, when the Congress with which he had broken a coalition with a group of parties of the right and center for the discussions on the health reform, said yes to his PND.

Petro, who has managed to overcome in plenary session the recent break in his coalition with right-wing groups due to disagreements on the health reform, added that “until now” his administration had barely “governed with the Duque Plan.”

After three consecutive days of discussion, the House of Representatives approved the reconciliation of the National Plan with 129 positive votes and 24 negative votes. Later it went to a vote in the Senate of the Republic where it resulted in the approval of the articles by 66 votes in favor, compared to 21 against.

The development plan seeks an order around water and climate change, and develop a policy to reduce hunger; It also proposes an agricultural transformation for the delivery of millions of hectares of productive land to peasants, a national convergence and use the economic surpluses of coal and oil for the energy transition.

“This National Development Plan is very different from any we have had in the history of Colombia. We focus on resolving historical debts that the Colombian State has with its population,” said the representative to the Chamber of the ruling Historical Pact, María del Mar Pizarro, from Congress. “I am very proud to have participated in the road map of the National Government, which we work from consensus and technical debate.”

In this sense, Vice President Francia Márquez, who was present at the discussion in the Colombian Legislature, assured that the plan “will contribute to closing the gaps of inequity and inequality with a view to social justice and total peace.”

The National Development Plan will be financed with resources from the country’s general budget, the general system of royalties (a mechanism that guarantees the distribution of income derived from the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources) and from the resources of the departments and municipalities.

Finally, the bill approved for Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president in the history of Colombia, will be submitted to conciliation in the coming days in both houses of Congress, and from there it will go to the president’s office for presidential sanction.

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