There are plenty of trade and investment opportunities in Venezuela and the most attractive and feasible business are in areas related to Agriculture, Agroindustry, Aquiculture, Audiovisual, Automotive, Electricity, Finance and Insurance, Hydrocarbons and Petrochemicals, Forestry Plantation, Infrastructure, Manufacture, Metallurgy, Mining, Telecommunications, Textiles and Tourism.

The country's extensive participation in regional trade agreements allows exportation to Latin American countries with reduced tax. In the Andean Community, a five-country market with a population of more than 100 million, the exportation is tax-free. Many of Venezuela's products enjoy preferential access to North American and European markets as well.

The strategic localization, resources diversity, modern infrastructure and the future economic prospects make Venezuela a natural candidate for companies in search of international investment opportunities which guarantee long term profitability.

LEGAL SYSTEM FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN VENEZUELA

.Agroindustry

Cacao
Venezuela offers investors an enticing growth potential for sectors such as cacao production and processing since consumption levels are comparatively low. Furthermore, associated installed capacity is underused, opening spaces for new initiatives in the cacao-processing sector. Venezuela's cacao production tradition is famous worldwide thanks to its high quality and flavor. Recent liberalization reforms in production and marketing have introduced new comparative advantages and opened excellent investment opportunities.

top

Petroleum is the country's most well known wealth and since the last century, it has been leading the Venezuelan economy. In 1990, important economic reforms mirrored the oil industry - where until very recently, private investment reintroduction was inconceivable. Nowadays, opportunities for private investment in the country's most important productive sector are manifold and diversified.

top

With one of the largest exploitable forest area in Latin America allied with a tropical climate ideal for rapid growth, Venezuela offers high profits and low costs, making the forestry plantation industry, for both local and broad markets, an attractive investment sector. At present, government and industry are working in the reform of the country's strict agrarian and land ownership legislation, which has limited private plantation development so far.

top

Thanks to its geological characteristics, Venezuela has almost all kind of mineral resource existent in the earth. Despite the country is among those with the highest worldwide reserves of iron, nickel, niobium, thorium, rare earth, zinc, gold and tantalum and the highest consumption rates of industrial minerals in the Western Hemisphere, the wealthy deposits remains untapped. In the last few years, due to the economic opening process and the private investment encouragement, important mining projects have been consolidated as substantial investments by major multinational partnerships.

top

Telecommunications is one of the non-oil sectors with the fastest economic development in Venezuela. Accrued investment in the last five years hit a breathtaking US$6 billion in total while in 1997 total investment in the sector doubled 1998's figure. This proves how attractive the sector can be and is a clear growth indicator for sector analysis. Expected domestic investment by the telecom industry for the next eight years ranges from US$5 to US$10 billion.

top

Venezuela is an Andean, Caribbean, and Amazonian country thus offering plenty of options in the tourism sector. The distance between destinations such as Merida in the Venezuelan Andes (West) and Canaima (Southeast) is less than 1,000 km, enabling visitors to go all the way from snow-covered mountains to plentiful rivers and tropical forests in a single day. Venezuela can praise itself for the highest waterfall in the world (the Angel Falls) and the largest lake in South America (the Maracaibo Lake) while the Orinoco River is the third longest river in Latin America. The number of tourists visiting Venezuela has grown remarkably in the last three years.

top