The Central American Bank of Economic Integration held a strategic dialogue with the media of the Central American region on CAFTA-DR optimization.

Pablo Rodas Martini, Chief Economist of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), introduced options to improve the use of CAFTA-DR, and based on tangible statistics of the first outcomes of the treaty is contributing, he presented the following conclusions:

It is essential to increase the education level of the labor force. The main challenge of the region is to climb the “comparative advantage ladder” of exports to the USA. If we wish to achieve significant levels of exports of products requiring a higher aggregated level and recognizing better salaries, we must improve semi-qualified labor’s endowment. It is indispensible that the task of professional and technical formation.

Institutes in the region becomes more dynamic: the Technical Institute for Training and Productivity (INTECAP) in Guatemala, the National Institute for Professional Formation (INFOP) in Honduras, the Salvadoran Institute for Professional Formation (INSAFORP) in El Salvador, The National Technological Institute (INATEC) in Nicaragua, and National Learning Institute (INA) in Costa Rica.

Agro-industry is one of the region’s greatest potentials. Already during the negotiations it was foreseen the region had a major prospective to export agriculture and livestock processed products. The agro-food industry can become a sequential success example: national production was followed by intra-Central American trade as a result of the integration scheme, and today there is a concrete possibility of entering the United States market.

The potential of the region is also significant in the assembly industry. At the industrial level the great opportunity of going into the electronics maquila (assembly line industry) is opening, which in fact is the natural and following step after the garment and apparel maquila, or, in other words, electronics maquila represents for our countries the next stair on the “ladder of comparative advantages”.