At COEXPORT’s 50th Anniversary event, “Unveiling Export Strategies in the New World Environment,” Greg Huger, Executive Director of the HUGE Business & Investment Council, delivered remarks this past Thursday evening. COEXPORT is a private, non-profit organization in San Salvador, El Salvador, that supports all companies in the country in all export sectors and helps them to become more competitive in international markets. Other speakers at the event included Ricardo Ernst, Executive Director of the Latin America Leadership Program of Georgetown University, Miguel Kattan, Secretary of Commerce and Investment of the Republic of El Salvador, Francisco Lima, Secretary General of SIECA, and Mario Salaverria, President of the Sugar Association. Huger expressed his gratitude towards COEXPORT’s President, Silvia Cuellar, with whom he worked as a USAID employee when the organization was established in the 1980s. He then elaborated on HUGE’s Founder-driven mission, discussing various initiatives in the textile industry, such as investing in four new spinning mills in the region, creating a Workforce Development Initiative, and training 10,000 Hondurans for technical jobs in the industry over the next five years, as well as expanding that program to Guatemala and El Salvador. Huger also spoke about HUGE’s logistics and infrastructure cluster focused on streamlining customs and border procedures, developing competitive regional infrastructure to connect Northern Central America, and more.
The HUGE Business and Investment Council, or ThinkHUGE, is a non-profit business association established in Washington DC at the end of December 2020 by private sector leaders from Honduras, the USA, Guatemala, and El Salvador. It is the first private sector-led regional effort to create massive job opportunities through investing in crucial regional infrastructure and nearshoring.
“The success of Nearshoring depends on the collaboration and efforts of everyone, including governments at every level, the private sector, and civil society in Honduras, the United States, Guatemala, and El Salvador. This is the mission of ThinkHUGE and what companies value the most. Nearshoring is a historic opportunity for the Western Hemisphere to attract new investments and create massive job opportunities for the people in the region, enabling them to live the American dream at home without having to go elsewhere. This opportunity is big enough for everyone to benefit from it. It is crucial to capitalize on it early and position ourselves strongly for the future. It is important for governments in the Northern Triangle and the United States, as well as the private sector, to work together to seize this opportunity. HUGE is committed to collaborating with all and making this a winning team,” said Greg Huger.
HUGE expresses gratitude towards COEXPORT for providing the opportunity to share this message with their audience.