U.S. VP Harris touts $4.2b private sector investment in Central America
06/02/2023 16:00
By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Private companies have
committed to invest $4.2 billion in northern Central America as
part of an effort by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to reduce
migration, the White House said on Monday.
The latest figures, up from $3.2 billion announced in June
2022, stem from pledges by 47 companies and organizations,
including the retailer Target TGT.N and the Columbia
Sportswear Company COLM.O . In the new announcements on Monday,
Target committed to increase its spending in El Salvador,
Guatemala and Honduras by $300 million this year while Columbia
said it would purchase $200 million in products in the region,
creating more than 6,900 jobs over five years.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who will deliver the annual State
of the Union address on Tuesday, tapped Harris in March 2021 to
lead efforts to reduce migration at the U.S.-Mexico border as
crossings began to spike at the beginning of his administration.
Harris focused her efforts on addressing the factors that led
migrants to leave the three countries, known as the northern
triangle, including a lack of economic opportunity.
Corruption and governance concerns in the three nations have
limited the effectiveness of the Harris push, leading to the
cancellation or suspension of projects likely worth millions of
dollars.
Harris, who will meet with U.S. government officials and
corporate leaders at her office in Washington on Monday, plans
to launch a new phase of the effort called Central America
Forward, which will include more focus on broader economic
development and labor rights, as well as a push to tackle
corruption, an administration official said on a call with
reporters.
Arrivals from northern Central America have steadily
declined since mid-2021. During that time, hundreds of thousands
of migrants from the region have been rapidly expelled back to
Mexico without the chance to seek U.S. asylum under a COVID
order known as Title 42.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mica
Rosenberg and Chizu Nomiyama)
((Ted.Hesson@thomsonreuters.com; 202-450-8633;))