The US injects funds to small and medium-sized companies in El Salvador

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently launched the Economic Competitiveness program in El Salvador, whose objective is to inject money into micro, small and medium-sized companies in the food and beverage sector so that they can grow and export their products. products.

The United States Chargé d’Affaires in El Salvador, Patrick Ventrell, inaugurated the program and said that El Salvador “has a great opportunity in the international market, which can mean higher incomes for the companies and farmers that produce the raw materials and more jobs. of work for Salvadorans”.

He added that “the United States government seeks to generate hope and prosperity and growth in El Salvador and that this is only possible if you have the support of the private sector and if you bet on the potential of small and medium entrepreneurs.”

The United States has prioritized strengthening development projects in countries of the so-called Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala) in order to reduce the high numbers of irregular immigrants from these nations who arrive at the southern border.

Mabel de Soundy, president of the Board of Directors of the Salvadoran Foundation for Comprehensive Support (FUSAI), also participated in the event, highlighting the support received and stating that “with this project we hope that the food and beverage sector can increase by 4.9 million dollars in sales and a generation of at least 375 jobs”.

The program will promote the increase in the productive capacity of companies, through the purchase of machinery and the expansion of their facilities, in addition to helping them comply with the export regulations stipulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). ) and develop new products for domestic and foreign markets.

“This is going to help us strengthen our capabilities, our skills, our knowledge to face an increasingly complicated world,” said Marvin Melgar, president of the company Melher, one of the companies receiving the funds.

He added that his company has suffered many crises since the pandemic began, and also long before, during the country’s armed conflict, but that this, far from stopping them, has made them resilient and has pushed them to move forward as a company.

Melgar also thanked the US government for its support and said that with this program they will invest in improving their production in order to export their products.

More jobs

The program will be executed during a period of 18 months, with a total investment of 1.5 million dollars, but this not only translates into investment for machinery, but also in more jobs.

Rafael Osegueda, one of the employees of the Melher factory, said that this will bring more jobs in different sectors of the company.

“The fact that the market can be expanded to the United States means that our company would enter into greater economic growth and, therefore, it would benefit us as employees.”

“We believe that there is always support in technical and professional training, that we as exporters want to know better and be able to meet the demands that this market that is so important to us (United States)” said Annie Hernández, factory production manager of Melher.

Recently, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the injection of more than 1,900 million dollars in new engagements with the private sector in the Northern Triangle to create economic opportunity and prevent migration.

This is added to other funds that the United States has donated in recent years, which have been channeled through civil society organizations and used for youth training programs and other social development initiatives.

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