The Commercial Office of Central America CATO has a website where Central American companies can promote their products to export to the Asian island.
With the aim of promoting Central American SMEs and boosting Taiwanese investment, the Commercial Office of Central America together with the Embassy of Honduras in Taiwan has inaugurated the website www.cato.com.tw , which allows entrepreneurs in the region to showcase their products in the Taiwanese market.
A bill introduced by the government intends to streamline access to the Panamanian market for foreign companies in the provision of maritime auxiliary services.
Excerpted from the bill introduced by the government of Panama:
Law 41 of June 14, 2013, through which reform is made to Law No. 8 of 1998 is amended by Decree, Act 56 of 2008 and Act 57 of 2008 which dictates other provisions on the work at sea and on waterways, significantly restricting access to the Panamanian market to foreign investors in the provision of maritime auxiliary services in the Republic of Panama.
Product distribution companies in the North of Central America are paying monthly installments of $100 per truck to organized criminal groups.
Far from declining, the cost and problems caused by extortion for companies in Central America, continue to rise and is harming regional trade. In Honduras alone, Eleconomista.net reported, "... between 2012 and 2013 some 18,000 businesses closed because of pressures from gang members and consequently some 72,000 direct jobs were lost."
Hydroelectric projects and expansion of distribution networks are part of the opportunities that Colombian Power firms are looking to take advantage of in the Isthmus.
There are now three Colombian energy sector companies that have decided to venture into Central America to be part of the development of an activity that still has much room for growth in the region.
Foreign investors continue to pour into the region in search of business opportunities in sectors traditionally handled by Central Americans.
Coffee producers of Dutch or Korean-American nationality were among the winners of the contest of fine coffees "The Best of Panama 2014", which involved 84 lots of fine, and traditional coffee.
"Heakyung Burneskis Kang, a Korean-American citizen, was one of the winners of the night, achieving first place in the categories of traditional natural coffees and traditional washed coffees".
In 2013 El Salvador attracted $140 million in foreign direct investment, Nicaragua $849 million, Honduras $1.060 billion, Guatemala $1.308 billion, Costa Rica $2.682 billion, and Panama $4 billion.
The Central America countries in total attracted $10.039,4 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2013, of which 40% went to Panama and only 1.6% went to El Salvador.
Of the $34.095 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in Central America which arrived in the last 4 years $21.925 million left the region in the form of expenses.
The information comes from a report by the Central Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI), which reveals that the most affected country is Guatemala, where outflows were 1.3 times more than income.
Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador attract investment based on the exploitation of natural resources and unskilled, but cheap, labor.
A report by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEF), reveals that Central America recorded last year $9.70 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI), with Panama and Costa Rica being the recipients of about 60% of these flows.
For every million dollars that comes into Central America as Foreign Direct Investment, only 4.7 jobs are created on average.
In Nicaragua, for example, an average of six new jobs are created per million dollars in incoming FDI, this is the highest number among the countries in Central America. "The data reflects the recent report on FDI in Latin America and the Caribbean 2013, by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)," noted an article in Laprensa.com.ni.
The region received a combined total of $8.876 billion in FDI in 2012, representing an increase of 7% compared to 2011.
Panama remained the largest recipient of foreign investment, with $3.020 billion, followed by Costa Rica with $2.265 billion, Guatemala ($1.207 billion), Honduras ($1.059 billion), Nicaragua ($810 million) and finally El Salvador with $516 million.
From 3 to 5 December, the next Latin America Outsourcing Services Conference by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals will be held in Costa Rica
From a press release by the Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives (CINDE):
The Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives (CINDE) publicly announces that Costa Rica will host the next Latin America Outsourcing Services Conference by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAPO). The selection of Costa Rica is a result of the development of the services sector and the recent addition of the country as a member of the IAOP, an organization that brings together more than 120,000 associates around the world and is co-organizing this event along with CINDE, a conference which is considered the most important in the Latin American region for outsourcing services.
In his meeting with the Central American presidents, President Obama could raise the matter of potential investments in the region by specialist U.S. companies in the sector.
In Central America, most of the investments in electricity generation with plants based on renewable resources, so far have been from Europe.
The information was confirmed by Washington's ambassador in San Jose, Anne Andrew.
In the past 20 years intraregional trade grew at a rate of 12% per year, indicating an opportunity to deepen integration by finally fully adopting the customs union.
However, experts believe that Central America still faces challenges, specifically in customs matters.
"Exports to Central America have grown over the past 20 years at a rate of 50% more than exports to the rest of the world." "...at an average of 12% annually, and our exports to the world have grown at an average of 8% annually. This underlines the importance of intraregional trade dynamics in this space of Central American integration," said Hugo Beteta, CEO of the subregional site of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Mexico.
The slowdown in the economy and rising labor costs are reducing the competitiveness gap that the Asian giant has with other countries.
Investment in China rose by 17.4% in 2010 and 9.72% in 2011, however, official data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that foreign direct investment in 2012 totaled $116.010 billion, representing a decrease from the previous year, in this case of 3.7%.
Europe wants a more ambitious agreement with Latin America to ensure the protection of investments in the region.
"The European Union would like to have "more ambitious" protection of foreign investment in Latin America as expressed in the last summit meeting with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), said the EU representative in Uruguay, the Spaniard Juan Fernández Trigo ", noted an article in Economía.elpaís.com.