Medellin now is preparing to receive senior government officials and top business leaders at the World Economic Forum on Latin America 2016, with the presidents of Argentina, Mauricio Macri Guatemala, Jimmy Morales the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina Sanchez and host nation Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, among those whose attendance has been confirmed. The city was not an attractive destination a few decades ago but was listed by National Geographic Traveler as one of the world’s 20 best places to visit in 2015, while the New York Times included it among 52 recommended destinations that same year. Medellin has succeeded in reinventing itself and today its renewal is recognized by international entities like the United Nations, which selected it to host the seventh session of the World Urban Forum in 2014, an event organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Program, or UN-Habitat. “Besides its bid to become an events city and our focus on social innovation, what’s making Medellin begin to be recognized for its positive aspects are those unique experiences we can offer and that make us a different destination,” Mayor Federico Gutierrez said.
The city currently boasts a more developed hotel infrastructure and enhanced ability to host meetings and conventions, while its transportation system is the most comprehensive and advanced in Colombia and its social innovation process has enabled the government to penetrate areas once beset by violence and turn them into spaces for reconciliation, culture and the arts, according to the Medellin Convention Bureau.
It’s a model city that has achieved greater coexistence,” the head of Latin America at the World Economic Forum, Marisol Argueta de Barillas, told EFE.Ĭolombia’s second city once had the stigma of being the world’s most violence- and drug trafficking-ridden city, but it is now emerging as a reborn, modern metropolis able to host a forum focused on analyzing the region’s economic growth in a context of global crisis. “Medellin is recognized worldwide for its capacity for transformation through social innovation and a booming private sector. The capital of the province of Antioquia, Medellin is looking to leverage the transformation it has experienced in recent years to consolidate itself as a venue for international events. The northwestern Colombian city of Medellin will host the World Economic Forum on Latin America 2016 on Thursday and Friday, providing it an opportunity to showcase its urban and social renewal and inspire the nearly 800 attendees at the gathering from 45 countries.
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