Reporte Anual 2009 - Amcham

President's ReportDuring 2009 the world experienced the worst recession ofthe last 80 years.Throughout the year the headlines focused on toxicassets, market losses, liquidity crisis, bankruptcies,bailouts and unemployment.Costa Rica was no exception and although the economywas not as hard hit as others in the region, the recessionmeant the worst economic crisis for this country in thelast 25 years.In the mist of this disaster, AmCham worked very hard tobring about changes that would improve thebusiness climate.This organization and its members can claim a strongparticipation in the approval of the Free Trade Zone Law.Bringing this law to fruition meant many hours of work forCommittees and members who participated in this effortand we should all congratulate ourselves for a job welldone.At the same time, AmCham participated with UCCAEP inavoiding potential harmful projects for our members likethe “Ley de Libertades Sindicales “or Unions FreedomBill.A year ago, I mentioned that AmCham needed to tackle astrategic agenda that covered a multitude of issues thatcould be summarized as improving the country’scompetitiveness.Our agenda included issues like security, exchange ratesand inflation, Free Zone legislation, energy, educationand social problems, amongst others.This agenda is still valid and its issues need to be tackledin an urgent and proactive fashion. If Costa Rica wants itsGNP to grow at an annual rate of 6 to 8 percent per year,the country’s competitiveness needs to improvedramatically and very fast.According to the World Economic Forum, out of 133countries, Costa Rica ranked 55th in 2009, in the GeneralCompetitiveness Index. This can be considered a goodranking. However, the same report states that out of the15 problem areas that were cited, the three worstrelating to doing business in our country are:Government bureaucracy, inadequate infrastructure andaccess to financing, in that order.And while Costa Rica continues to procrastinate, ourneighbor to the north is aggressively making the rightdecisions and investments to improve their business andinvestment climate and become a preferred destinationfor FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, a position enjoyed byCosta Rica in the recent past.In an effort to understand the alignment of this agendawith our members’ needs, the Executive Committeeorganized a meeting with representatives from differentcompanies operating in Costa Rica. My conclusion fromthat meeting is that not only is this agenda the right onebut that resolving many of these competitiveness issues isthe best way AmCham could help the membershipperform better.Furthermore, at the suggestion of the participants, theagenda was augmented to include other issues such as thewidening digital gap, electricity rates, water and watertreatment, amongst others.Taking into consideration that Costa Rica will holdpresidential elections in February and a new administrationwill take over in early May, AmCham is preparing a “WhitePaper” with recommendations on how to improve CostaRica’s business climate and competitiveness. Thedocument will be presented to the president-elect andAmCham will make sure that these issues are included inthe next administration’s agenda.Outside of Costa Rica, the Obama administration istackling an agenda with a different set of priorities, likeAfghanistan, Iran, the economy and healthcare.We need to understand that Latin America in general andCentral America in particular are competing with thosepriorities for the attention of the current administration.The arrival of US Ambassador Anne Andrew in Costa Ricagives us the opportunity to present AmCham’s agenda andto make certain that Costa Rica is on the “radar screen”of the Obama administration, a message that wasdelivered to State Department officers during AACCLA’smeeting in Washington in October 09.Special attention will be placed on issues related tosecurity and drug trafficking issues.To achieve all of the above, AmCham, its Board,administration and Committees will continue their workin 2010 making sure that the interests of its membershipare well represented and that AmCham’s positions are