El Salvador wants to build strategic alliances and cooperate with Korea on road infrastructure, urban mobility, new technologies and energy, the country’s Public Works and Transportation Minister Edgar Romeo Rodriguez Herrera told The Korea Herald in a recent interview.

Rodriguez emphasized the need to collaborate with strong allies experienced in economic growth and social development and cited South Korea as a model for expanding national infrastructure and comprehensive development.

“El Salvador is developing hundreds of infrastructure projects and one of them is through funds from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Exim Bank),” the minister said.

Rodriguez and his high-level delegation met with CABEI, Eximbank, major construction and engineering companies such as South Korean construction company Daewoo Engineering & Construction to promote strategic project of Los Chorros and other infrastructure projects in pipeline during visit to Korea. 

Los Chorros Road Project is project for expanding the Los Chorros highway that connects key regions in El Salavdor.

The project would change lives of all Salvadorans, improve mobility, reduce travel times and costs, and promote trade of goods and investments, Rodriguez said.

The minister pointed that 96 percent of El Salvador’s textile companies are located in Los Chorros and major tourist destinations such as Lake Coatepeque, Route of Las Flores, Route of Los Naranjos, Balneario de Los Chorros, Beaches of Sonsonate are located along this road.

“Los Chorros road will be the largest road infrastructure project developed in the history of El Salvador,” said Rodriguez.

According to Rodriguez, El Salvador’s vision is to use improved infrastructure, mobility and logistics to emerge as regional benchmark of modernization. 

“We want to develop projects in which Korean companies take part,” he said underlining El Salvador’s goals to become a regional logistic hub.

Applauding his government’s last three year efforts to promote economic growth in El Salvador, he said that the country managed the impact of COVID-19 capably with economic growth of 10.08 percent in 2021.

“El Salvador achieved double digit growth first time in its history,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez invited Korean companies to participate in projects such as an elevated light metro in the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, work on the Port of Acajutla, a new railway system in El Salvador, providing a public transportation fleet, building roads connecting logistics centers of El Salvdor and a new Pacific Airport.

"El Salvador wants to develop strategic alliances with Korea,” he stressed, saying that, historically, Korea has been a strategic ally.

“We have come a long way since 2019, but also, we need a lot to do,” said Rodriguez.

“Strategic allies such as CABEI, K-Eximbank and South Korean public and private sector are important to generate conditions of development that El Salvador is building,” he added.