El Salvador: a land of opportunity.

For Dell, El Salvador offered an ideal location for its newest contact center. "El Salvador's proximity to the United States, and the reputation of the Salvadoran workforce as one of the best in Central America were all factors in our decision," said Erik Dithmer, general manager.

With its positive business climate and free trade advantages, El Salvador was also the nation of choice for Devanlay, a French company, to manufacture its Lacoste brand for apparel.

With support from PROESA, El Salvador's Investment Promotion Agency, international investors are flocking to the strategically located Central American nation.

El Salvador's dramatic progress has been recognized by international rating agencies such as Moody's, which has qualified El Salvador with investment rate for the last seven years. The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal rate El Salvador among the most open economies of the world, second in Latin America, and 24th worldwide.

For international investors, El Salvador's competitive resources include:

* Human capital. The nation's young, well-educated workforce assures human resources availability. Investors in the country attest to Salvadorans' high quality of work, as the nation's labor force is recognized as the most productive in the region.

* A strategic location midway between North and South America. El Salvador is also well situated as a regional distribution center for the 40.2 million people of Central America.

* Advanced infrastructure, including a modern airport that serves as the regional hub for TACA, Acajutla Port on the west coast, and Puerto La Union, a world-class east coast port due to be completed in 2008.

* Economic stability. The American dollar is the legal currency, eliminating the currency exchange risk, and the nation has one of the lowest interest rates in the region.

Investors in El Salvador also benefit from the nation's free trade agreements that now cover more than 200 million people in Central America, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Chile and Panama. This market will increase again with the recent ratification of CAFTA-DR among the Central American countries, the Dominican Republic and the United States, as well as a trade agreement with Canada, presently under negotiation.

PROESA supports foreign investors in many industries with a particular focus on the following sectors:

* Distribution and value-added logistic centers

* Textile and Apparel

* Agro industry

* Contact centers

* Light manufacturing, including electronics and auto parts

* Footwear

* Tourism

For more information, contact PROESA Tel. [phone] Fax. [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]