Relatoría Reunión Raintree y CNR Febrero 2023
Relatoría Reunión Raintree y CNR Febrero 2023
Relatoría Reunión Raintree y CNR Febrero 2023
Attendees: Raúl José Buitrago, Alejandro Echavarría, Juan Gómez and Santiago
Castellanos (CNR) and Daniel Perry, Gerry Liddle and Rodrigo Vivas (RainTree).
The most relevant points discussed during this meeting were the following:
1. Juan says that CNR is struggling because they need to see the Project
organized to take it to his Board of Directors and Shareholders. He personally
likes it but urges that without specific information regarding financial,
technical, etc. matters, "tangible" results will not be fulfilled.
He also stated that RainTree has always tried to be transparent and is willing
to find viable solutions to unlock the current bottleneck points. In that spirit,
he elucidated the following topics:
a. For the USD 200K, RainTree is obliged to deliver results. However, the
contract did not stipulate that specific actions were related to an X amount of
dollars.
b. Jorge Hakim was very emphatic with his desire to move away from the
Government, and RainTree took it seriously.
c. CNR made clear that they needed a financial case. So RainTree broke it
down into different pieces:
- Alejandro pointed out that he has been in touch with Gerry every week;
nonetheless, he deems written reports are a must.
4. Gerry agrees with Juan. Regardless, he would like to change the contract
and made four philosophical questions (which forced very telling answers):
a. RainTree entered Colombia before Petro won the elections. CNR made
clear that they didn't want to go down the Government Path;
nevertheless, it is paramount. Juan says they understand that they
understand that, but that timing is an issue for them. They have two
interests: moving away from a mining operation, which relates to the
Government Path and the long-term, and forestry and reclamation
obligations in the short term that must be resolved.
b. In the best-case scenario, where does CNR sees this ending at? Juan
said CNR wants a project consistent with their obligations, where they
can use their land and create employment in the region while making
money for their company. Nor Alejandro, Juan nor Raúl mentioned the
railway, which is supposed to be their transformational asset.
Moreover, Alejandro insists that they have intel about lands that are on
sale and Juan that they have a list of 20 objectives they want to fulfill at
once with the RainTree partnership, which proves they are focused only
on themselves.
Commitments:
- Gerry promised to deliver a new proposal in the coming days, most likely in
the week of the 13th to the 17th of February.
- In the spirit of moving forward, Alejandro proposes to get together every
week. In addition, he has available desks for RainTree staff to work in their
new offices.
Final Commentary:
Astonishingly, the CNR staff need help to understand the RainTree Project in
Colombia. They have slowed down things based on incorrect assumptions and are
still reluctant to accept them. This is a window of opportunity for RainTree to return
to the driver's seat as they are open to revising the contract.
RainTree also has a Board of Directors and is accountable to it. Giving unique
benefits to a company that wants to act as a sponsor is unacceptable and will not
be considered. Thus far, CNR has imposed detrimental conditions on the RainTree
Project.
They ought to adapt to RainTree rather than the other way around. For example,
suppose CNR provides information about the land they own in the vicinity of their
mine in La Loma, Cesar, and the different areas they want to impact positively. In
that case, Raintree can help them to achieve their commitments.
However, this will be a small endeavour within an ambitious project at the regional
and national levels. The pilot built with them could be a Satellite of the Caribbean
Region, signed with their environmentally forward-thinking company instead of
CNR, to avoid political issues with the Petro Government. This last point is vital as
RainTree’s main goal is to close a deal with them as soon as possible and can’t
jeopardize it by any means.
The RainTree team must meet and discuss thoroughly the challenges and
opportunities ahead, plan a new proposal that benefits the National Program and
make it bulletproof to governmental scrutiny.