LatinNews Daily - 22 November 2023

* Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has held a meeting with some of the country’s business leaders with the goal of “building the bases of what could be a great national agreement”, according to a presidential statement. Upon taking office in August 2022, Petro said that he would seek to build such an agreement to secure support for his progressive reform agenda from the business community and the traditional political establishment, although the government’s relations with these groups have deteriorated over the course of its 16 months in power. Yesterday’s meeting with business leaders centred around four topics of discussion: education; the reduction of geographical inequalities; agricultural production; and the development of the “popular economy” by expanding access to cheap credit. The statement said that more talks will be held to further discuss these issues.