CLDP and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative held a bilateral workshop for 70 participants comprised of Salvadoran government representatives, and textile and apparel industry representatives from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. This workshop provided an overview of the interconnected issues that must be addressed to strengthen El Salvador’s textile and apparel industry, including: Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) benefits, effective marketing strategies, strengthening supply chain management, proactively developing products, and sustaining the industry’s competitive advantage through stakeholder cooperation and education. To cover these topics, CLDP called upon the expertise of two professors with industry experience currently teaching textile and apparel graduate courses at the University of Missouri and the University of Georgia, as well as experts within the U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the International Trade Administration’s Office of Textiles and Apparel. The team of professors and interagency experts delivered tailored presentations, worked through dynamic case studies, and engaged the participants in fruitful discussions to resolve real-time issues confronting both industry and government representatives.

As a result of this workshop, industry representatives from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras will be better able to utilize the available CAFTA-DR benefits for their businesses when exporting back to the U.S., thereby increasing economic growth and development for the industry in the region. This event represented the first in a series of workshops and technical exchanges intended to strengthen El Salvador’s textile and apparel industry in support of the U.S. Strategy for Central America. The Strategy is a bipartisan, multi-year U.S. government plan promoting institutional reforms and addressing developmental challenges. It aims to protect American citizens by addressing the security, governance, and economic drivers of illegal immigration and illicit trafficking in the region, while increasing opportunities for U.S. and other businesses.