Remarks Tecoloco.com

October 19, 2005

Saludos...
Damas y Caballeros:

I’m not only honored to be here this morning; I’m also excited. It’s great to have Marcel Legrand here with us to share the success story of Monster.com. And it’s great to see a Salvadoran company, Tecoloco.com, in the vanguard in using the Internet. As we all know the Internet and the World Wide Web have just about eliminated information borders. With the approval of CAFTA-DR, we are reducing the costs of crossing economic borders as well and increasing opportunities for trade, and exchanges of goods and services.

So I applaud the Colóc@te initiative. I cannot think of anything more important to strengthening the economy and motivating workers than creating good jobs and putting them within reach. This initiative is a great example of how technology can be used to lower the costs of doing business, to match employers and workers, and to promote growth. For the next eleven days, job-seekers – those of you who are here and many more who are not – will be able to log on to a web site with listings of job opportunities in El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras. All you need is access to a computer and the Internet…and a great resume!

Mr. President and Minister Meza, I applaud your efforts that have broadened access to the Internet – in the public schools and through the Infocentros that are located all over the country. I also applaud the private sector – the Internet café operators who offer valuable on-line services at very reasonable prices.

Over the next eleven days, thousands of talented job-seekers in Central America will make contact with hundreds of companies eager to recruit the best and brightest this region has to offer. While the ratification of CAFTA-DR gives us a formal structure for regional economic integration, actual integration happens through business connections like the ones that will be made possible through Colóc@te.

So surf away!! Good luck to you all.