Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. All photos by Trevor Williams.

Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca

The presidents of Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala have already met at least seven times this year, but the second annual Americas Competitiveness Forum in Atlanta gave them occasion to discuss publicly how further integration and collaboration could hasten access to economic prosperity for their citizens.

Presidents Álvaro Uribe Vélez of Colombia, Elias Antonio Saca Gonzalez of El Salvador and Álvaro Colom Caballeros of Guatemala spoke at a plenary session Aug. 18 moderated by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. 

The Aug. 17-19 forum brought together government officials and business leaders from throughout the Western Hemisphere to share knowledge on how to boost the hemisphere’s competitiveness in the world economy.

Atlanta hosted the forum for the second straight year, and organizers have said that the attendance of these heads of state proves that the forum is building on last year’s successes. 

The presidents addressed trade relationships within Latin America and with the United States.  They also discussed opportunities to work together to fight drug trafficking, provide quality education and improve logistics.

In a press conference, Mr. Gutierrez said trade agreements are important for exploring synergies between complementary economies. 

A vocal proponent of a pending U.S. free trade agreement with Colombia, he recently visited Savannah, Georgia’s largest and the nation’s fastest-growing port, to marshal support for the pact. 

While Colombia’s Mr. Uribe did mention the agreement and speak favorably about his country’s alliance with the U.S., the leaders focused mostly on how their countries would collaborate in a regional context.

El Salvador’s Mr. Saca spoke extensively on how a cohesive Central America could better present itself in the world economy.

Mr. Saca’s country only has 7 million people, but the seven-country region has a population of more than 40 million, about the same as Colombia’s.

The region has already lowered barriers considerably, Mr. Saca said.  Guatemala and El Salvador are part of DR-CAFTA, a trading bloc linking five Central American countries, the U.S. and the Dominican Republic.

But Mr. Saca added that more cooperation is necessary to ensure the efficient flow of goods and people across borders while maintaining security standards.

Strides have been made toward this goal.  Flights between El Salvador’s growing airport and Costa Rica are now considered domestic, Mr. Saca said. 

El Salvador, with coastline facing the Pacific Ocean, is revamping its port and plans to connect to the Atlantic by a “dry channel” to Honduras and a highway to Guatemala.

“This is not a dream; this dry channel to Honduras is a reality,” Mr. Saca told an audience of some 900 forum attendees in the Centennial Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency downtown.

He noted that El Salvador’s goal is not to compete with Panama but to complement the isthmian nation, which is spending $5.25 billion to expand the Panama Canal to a width and depth suitable for the world’s largest cargo ships.

Mr. Saca wrapped up his remarks with a strong appeal to American investors.

“El Salvador is ready and waiting for you to invest because we have transparency, and the only way to get these countries out of poverty” is to create economic opportunity, he said.

Mr. Colom, Guatemala’s president of seven months, echoed Mr. Saca’s calls for further regional collaboration, saying that he hopes to eventually have “no customs between El Salvador and Guatemala.”

He acknowledged Guatemala’s ongoing struggles with insurgents, kidnappings, poverty and a shoddy educational system.  Despite these challenges, he said the country’s economy has grown during almost every year of its tumultuous history.

With regional integration and sound policies, an era of unprecedented prosperity could come to the Americas, he said.

“I believe that Central America and all of South and North America are in new times.  We are aware of the difficulties, but never has Latin America had the opportunities we have today,” Mr. Colom said.

Mr. Colom and Mr. Saca said they needed to improve their countries’ educational systems in order to become more competitive.

Mr. Saca wants El Salvador’s students to be bilingual in English and Spanish by the time they leave the public education system.  

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom

Mr. Colom said that Guatemala, with 23 Mayan ethnic groups within its 40,000 square miles of territory, must first provide access to education for all tribes in their native languages and Spanish before moving toward English instruction.

The presidents spoke mostly in Spanish, and earpieces were provided for translation. The same was true at a crowded press conference following the speeches, where journalists from all over the hemisphere queried the leaders on a wide range of issues.

Mr. Uribe and Mr. Gutierrez both used the press pulpit to once again assert their strong support for the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement.

Mr. Uribe thanked the commerce secretary for his “solidarity” on the issue and stressed that his country would like to see its alliance with the U.S. strengthened by the pact, which has been signed but awaits ratification in Congress.

He said that Colombia’s sales of products like coffee and petroleum are unaffected by the agreement but that it would eliminate taxes on machinery, agricultural products and other items.

The pact would help Colombia create balance in its economy and become more attractive to U.S. companies, and it would benefit U.S. exporters who in some sectors currently face hefty tariffs when selling to the Colombian market, Mr. Uribe said.

“It will help us to have more investment in Colombia,” he added.

Mr. Uribe said Colombia has put laws in place to ensure the protection of workers.  Some U.S. lawmakers have cited violence against union members in Colombia as a reason not to support an agreement with the South American nation.

But continuing to support open policies that explore synergies between economies of the hemisphere are vital, Mr. Gutierrez said.

“We find that we compete with other parts of the world moreso than we compete with each other.  That's why there is an important strategic nature to our free trade agreements,” Mr. Gutierrez said, calling explicitly on Congress to pass pending agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

A trade agreement with Peru passed the U.S. Legislature last December.  A Peruvian delegation visiting Atlanta this week held an event touting the benefits the agreement has brought.

On Sunday, the first official day of the forum, Mr. Uribe and Mr. Gutierrez participated in a Colombia rally at Druid Hills High School in Atlanta, where both men spoke in support of the free trade agreement. 

The forum brought representatives from more than 30 countries to Atlanta for the second straight year. 

The Georgia capital has vied in the past to become the host city for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a now-stalled initiative that would have linked 34 democracies of the hemisphere into a single trading bloc. 

The FTAA has yet to pan out, but the negotiations toward it have helped Atlanta’s connectivity in the Americas.  

State officials have pointed to increased talks with government officials in Caribbean and Latin American nations as precursors to the consulates and air links that have grown significantly over the past few years.

The vice presidents of Nicaragua and El Salvador also attended the forum.

The 2009 Americas Competitiveness Forum will be held in Santiago, the capital of Chile.