Rebuilding a nation

Business advantages

So revitalized is the Salvadoran economy that it enjoys an average inflation rate of only 1.4 percent. The country's leadership is intent on offering a fluid assimilation for potential investors by refining its infrastructure: roads, ports, customs, telecommunications and, perhaps most importantly, its workforce. In this effort El Salvador has established 15 "free zones" for export industry. The zones bisect the nation from east to west and offer the resources of millions of workers in nearby radii. Free zone infrastructures are essentially ready-made or made-to-order industrial and office parks linked to transportation centers. All of these zones are established, populating and under constant improvement.

Shipping to the U.S. takes five days or less and the country has begun development of Porto Cutaco,

a colossal port by Central American standards, set to open in 2005. Global players like Unilever and Bimbo are already taking advantage of the benefits of proximity to U.S. and Mexican markets by establishing distribution centers in the country. There is already a warm market indeed; 33 percent of El Salvador's population is living in the United States and hungry for Salvadoran products. With 20 flights daily to and from the U.S., the cultural gap is disappearing. Companies like Arrocera San Francisco, S.A. de C.V., a distributor of Goya and manufacturer of Dona Lisa, among other brands, has been trading in New York and Western U.S. markets for years.

"We as a government can be the provider of the infrastructure the investor needs to do business, and that means, roads, better ports and better labor," says Vice President Quintanilla.