Davos 2023: PCA Hosts Dialogue on Supply Chain Integration with Amb. Katherine Tai, Microsoft's Brad Smith, Mastercard's Mike Froman, and PCA’s Jonathan Fantini Porter

Davos, Switzerland, February 10, 2023 --(PR.com)-- At Davos 2023, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Partnership for Central America hosted CEOs and senior government officials in a strategic dialogue on investment and social impact opportunities in Northern Central America–the first discussion on this region in the Forum’s history. Speakers at the 90-minute session included Ambassador Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative; Luis Alberto Moreno, Managing Partner, Allen & Co.; Marisol Argueta, Head, WEF Latin America; Dr. Ilan Goldfajn, President, Inter-American Development Bank; Brad Smith, President, Microsoft; Mike Froman, Vice Chairman, Mastercard; Jonathan Fantini-Porter, Executive Director, The Partnership for Central America; Maria Luisa Hayem, Minister of Economy, El Salvador; Janio Rosales, Minister of Economy, Guatemala; and Miguel Medina, Minister of Investment, Honduras.

The dialogue focused on PCA’s mobilization of $4.2 billion and deployment of $650 million in 20 months, which has supported 5 million individuals--with the support of programs that include Microsoft delivering digital access to 4 million individuals in the region and Mastercard supporting financial inclusion for 1 million.

“The Partnership for Central America is a vehicle to facilitate and coordinate diverse actors across industry and government to create economic opportunities and support the enabling environment necessary to sustain opportunities for the most vulnerable in this region,” said Jonathan Fantini-Porter, Executive Director and CEO of the Partnership for Central America.

Northern Central American countries face distinct challenges that require systemic approaches. As much as 30% of the population live in extreme poverty, homicide and femicide rates are among the world’s highest, and climate disasters have decimated as much as 80% of the region’s crops in recent years. At the same time, the region has distinguished strengths that are grounded in economic, geographical, and human capital comparative advantages. For example, it is 2-5 days shipping time from ports in the U.S. compared to an average of nine days among peers; 50% of the labour force is below 39 years old; and, existing free trade agreements create favourable trade conditions for business partners in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. As supply chain complications and geopolitical uncertainty disrupt traditional production and business process hubs, Central America has emerged with clear comparative advantages.

With support from leading companies like Mastercard and Microsoft, the Partnership has convened 100+ leading private and public entities that have mobilized investments toward a 10-year goal to create 1M jobs and economically enable 20M individuals.

Looking ahead, the Partnership aims to continue its work in investment mobilization for the region with the addition of new partners and an announcement of new commitments coming later this quarter.

The Partnership for Central America is a non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works with a multi-national coalition of private organizations to advance economic opportunity across underserved populations in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Partnership serves as a coordinating body of Vice President Harris’s Call to Action and aims to facilitate and support practical solutions to advance economic opportunity, address urgent climate, education and health challenges, and promote long-term investments and workforce capability in support of a vision of hope for Central America. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to membership@centampartnership.org.