A BIG STEP FORWARD
May 6th, 2008 - No Comments
The regionalization of Central America takes an important step forward today, with the launch of centralamericadata.com.
The first bilingual website covering Central American business and economics follows in the footsteps of — among many others— Roberto Kriete, who turned five local carriers into TACA, the leading regional airline; Alejandro Poma, who built impressive commercial centers in the region’s major cities; and Mauricio Samayoa and Alberto Vallarino, who transformed local banks in El Salvador and Panama into regional powerhouses.
Compared to the companies which these pioneers built, centralamericadata.com is a modest operation.
But its importance will be disproportional to its size.
Using the most advanced techniques for gathering and displaying news, analysis and data, updated daily, the portal gives users a dynamic program for keeping up with the latest developments in regional commerce and economics.
Meanwhile, the portal’s comprehensive library will give users unrivalled access to comparative and historical information.
On the commercial side, centralamericadata.com is supported by advertisers, who will be able to match their messages to specific readers with extraordinary precision.
Economic integration is logical for Central America, where goods traveling a mere 1,000 kilometers need to cross as many as five borders, each with its own rules, and where six countries, none of which has a gross national product greater than Houston or Hamburg, need no fewer than five currencies.
Greater Central American integration will take time.
But as of today, the process takes a big forward.
Full disclosure: centralamericadata.com is a joint venture of Republica Media Group (which includes Costa Rica’s business daily http://www.larepublica.net and which I chair) and Cobas Comunicación Digital.