BOGOTA (Reuters) - Latin American online e-commerce website Mercado Libre (O:MELI) will open a new technology and innovation center in Colombia this year, bringing 200 new jobs to the Andean country, the company said on Wednesday.
The new site will be located in the capital Bogota and will be a new addition for Mercado Libre, which already has technology centers providing e-commerce and fintech services in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile.
"We will open our first IT center in the country which will become the nucleus and motor to drive Mercado Libre's technological capacities in Latin America," said the company's regional director for the Andes, Jaime Ramirez.
Ramirez did not disclose the investment value of the new center.
Mercado Libre, an Argentine company incorporated in the United States, is the seventh largest e-commerce website in the world. It operates in 18 countries and has around 10,000 employees.
The company expects to bring 1,000 new jobs to Latin America this year.
In February, Mercado Libre said it would invest some $420 million this year in Mexico, its fastest growing market. The sum was 46% larger than investment in the country in 2019.