Grupo Calvo, one of the top five canned tuna producers in Europe, began construction on its new plant in the eastern Salvadoran city of Punta Gorda, in May 2002. At a cost of US $41 million, the new processing facility will be the largest tuna plant in the Americas, yielding more than 700 jobs for Salvadorans. "We chose El Salvador because of its reputation as a country with access to large agricultural resources, qualified labor and excellent facilities for exporting to third parties," explained Grupo Calvo President José LuÃs Calvo.
The increased foreign direct investment (FDI) comes at a time when El Salvador is proactively touting its competitive advantages. In July, the country launched its first-ever promotional campaign in the United States, "El Salvador Works," to attract FDI. The Vice President has spent much of 2002 promoting El Salvador's investment opportunities and incentives to multinational corporations in the United States and elsewhere. El Salvador is one of only three Latin American countries to hold the coveted investment grade rating by the credit ratings agency Moody's. The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal's annual rankings have placed El Salvador between the two most open economies in Latin America for the past three years. Since 2000, the country has boasted the lowest interest rates in Central America, offering foreign investors a maximum corporate rate of 25 percent, one of the most competitive in the region.