The World Economic Forum and the Partnership for Central America host CEOs and Government Officials in Strategic Dialogue on Nearshoring & Investment Opportunities in Northern Central America
DAVOS, Switzerland January 18, 2023 — The World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Partnership for Central America hosted CEOs and senior government officials in a strategic dialogue on nearshoring and investment opportunities in Northern central america, marking the first time in the Forum’s 53-year history that the region has been discussed. Speakers at the 90-minute session included Ambassador Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative; Luis Alberto Moreno, Managing Partner, Allen & Co. (Moderator); Marisol Argueta, Head, WEF Latin America; Dr. Ilan Goldfajn, President, Inter-American Development Bank; Maria Luisa Hayem, Minister of Economy, El Salvador; Janio Rosales, Minister of Economy, Guatemala; Miguel Medina, Minister of Investment, Honduras; Brad Smith, President, Microsoft; Mike Froman, Vice Chairman, Mastercard; and, Jonathan Fantini-Porter, Executive Director, The Partnership for Central America.
The dialogue focused on PCA’s model for investment facilitation and how the public-private partnership is distinguished by its operating model, governance team, and organizational structure. While PCA partners create jobs, support farmers, provide financial and digital access, and deliver skills training, through these functions, PCA drives additional investments to the region and then coordinates programs to ensure maximum impact. “The Partnership for Central America serves as the facilitator and coordinating body to enable diverse actors across industry and government to create economic opportunities and support the enabling environment necessary to sustain those opportunities,” said Jonathan Fantini-Porter, Executive Director and CEO of the Partnership for Central America.
Northern Central American countries face distinct challenges that require systemic approaches. As much as 30% of the population live in extreme poverty, homicide and femicide rates are among the world’s highest, and climate disasters have decimated as much as 80% of the region’s crops in recent years. At the same time, the region has distinguished strengths that are grounded in economic, geographical, and human capital comparative advantages. For example, it is 2-5 days shipping time from ports in the U.S. compared to an average of nine days among peers; 50% of the labour force is below 39 years old; and, existing free trade agreements create favourable trade conditions for business partners in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. As supply chain complications and geopolitical uncertainty disrupt traditional production and business process hubs, Central America has emerged with clear comparative advantages.
With support from leading companies like Mastercard and Microsoft, the Partnership has convened 100+ leading private and public entities that has already mobilized USD$3.2B in investments and is committed to a 10-year goal to create 1M jobs and economically enable 20M individuals.
Looking ahead, the Partnership aims to continue its work in investment mobilization for the region with the addition of new partners and an announcement of new commitments coming later this quarter.
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The Partnership for Central America is a non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works with a multi-national coalition of private organizations to advance economic opportunity across underserved populations in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Partnership serves as a coordinating body of Vice President Harris’s Call to Action and aims to facilitate and support practical solutions to advance economic opportunity, address urgent climate, education and health challenges, and promote long-term investments and workforce capability in support of a vision of hope for Central America. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to membership@centampartnership.org.
