INVESTING IN CENTRAL AMERICA

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COUNTRIES NATURAL RESOURCES

INVESTING IN NATURAL RESOURCES: CENTRAL AMERICA REGION
Central American countries enter the new century in the middle of a transformation of their energy sectors with new opportunities, new challenges and new technologies. Better energy but renewable energies are still too expensive for massive implementation. While natural gas may provide the bridge to the cleaner and cheaper energies of the future, hydropower still has a role to play in this transition, particularly if the Clean Energy Mechanism becomes a reality. While it may be true that the development of new hydro resources faces many environmental challenges, it is also true that is not the final solution.
Because of infrastructure and social problems, both Guatemala and El Salvador are working on long term planning of their economy for advancement spite of the recent political problems, Costa Rica is developing economic stagnation due to political and social control. Guatemala has through a presidential national plan based on politic and economic matrixes, a vision of the future development, which include reconvertion for agriculture seeking technology and training through short programs. El Salvador on the other hand has passed the planning stage with “Plan de Naciones”, a 25-year plan to involved the rural population in specific project development.
Costa Rica has created 59 objectives to contribute to accelerate economic and social development in spite of its bureaucratic quagmires. Contrary to El Salvador, Costa Rica’s regulatory system is inefficient to the extent that it is difficult to obtain business local representatives and a license in order to conduct a business. To operate you have to have friends in the right place, where the more contacts you have the better your chances of success. It is easy to see why during the year 2000, Costa Rica received investments for $ 420 millions, almost half as that of El Salvador.
The Interamerican Development Bank ( IADB ), The Central American Economic Integration Bank (BCIE) and The United States Interamerican Development Agency ( AID ) are organizations participating in a minor way in long term private projects specially on infrastructure, rarely welcome private lending. By regulation the BCIE lends on equal percentage their funds to Central American countries working mainly on collective country strategies assisting on state reforms and pre investment, paying close attention to social and business cultural changes.
These organizations usually participate in projects that require procedural, strategy, reform, modernization and promotion of competitiveness. They work with communities lobbying for political strengths, limiting their participation to infrastructure and social advancement specially developing the Central American region corridors ( road, energy, power, biomedical and environment ) of each country.

Click on the specific flags for country detail. You can also download the full text of the report presented to the State of California with comment on each area of natural resources.