E.S. and U.S. Sign "Partners for Growth" Agreement

           The governments of El Salvador and the United States signed the agreement for the program “Partners for Growth” this afternoon. The representative that signed for El Salvador was Technical Secretary of the President, Alex Segovia. And the U.S. representative was Assistant Secretary of State of Economic, Energy and Business in the U.S., Jose Fernandez. The signing took place at the Presidential House in El Salvador which President Funez honored by witnessing.

            According to El Mundo the “Partners for Growth” program is:

“an ambitious set of actions to increase economic growth in El Salvador, focusing commitments between both countries, through a Joint Action Plan. It's a new way to carry out programs of assistance, both for the United States to El Salvador, and is part of the management policy of Barack Obama for Development. It is an initiative focused on only one sector, but built a comprehensive proposal to accelerate and sustain economic growth in the long run by a group of selected countries.”

            The initiative for this program was announced by President Barack Obama at a press conference during his visit to El Salvador in March.

            President Funez believes that this will lay down a foundation for the process of sustained development which will exploit the nation’s labor and production capacity through investments in infrastructure, and technology services and transfers. Segovia states that the program will be able to do this because it involves more than just monetary support; it is a “shared responsibility” in decision making to achieve development. In fact, this agreement allows the United States to have more of a hands on role and become active in decision and policy making rather, as opposed to its previous role as a “passive donor”(El Mundo). Part of this shared responsibility will include the U.S. partaking in the creation of policies designed to “overcome identified barriers that hinder growth: the insecurity and crime, low productivity, and others.” In, fact the U.S. has already recommended actions that should be taken to improve the conditions for economic growth, such as: approving the Concession Act of Port of the Union and the Financial System Law for the Promotion of Development.

            By signing this agreement, El Salvador has become one of only four nations, and the only American nation, to implement the U.S. sustainable development initiative. The other three nations are Ghana, Tanzania and the Philippines.

            Although sustainable development is a good idea and is needed in El Salvador, this pact makes me personally, a little skeptical. I’m not being Anti-American when I say this, but what is to say this isn’t another way for the U.S. to expand its control? The fact that this pact’s decisions will be “driven by the U.S” makes me wonder if this will in fact create economic growth, or will it cause an even lager dependency issue between the U.S. and El Salvador? And if it does lead to economic growth, what sacrifices will the Salvadorans have to endure, that the U.S. deems necessary for economic growth? Will this mean building more highways through the heart of villages against the villagers will, in order to ‘improve trade’ and product delivery? Like I said, I am not trying to be Anti-American or anti-growth. I guess my visit to El Salvador has allowed me to see things from a different angle I have come to realize that pacts such as this, that seem to be good intentioned from the American point of view, may not be what the people on the other end of the agreement really want or need, and may in fact cause more harm than good. My hope is of course, that the Salvadorans are able to maintain their sovereignty and use this pact to benefit their economy in ways that they agree with.