Opportunities for investment in Guatemala: A Conversation with Antonio Romero

by | Jan 18, 2025 | FDI Latin America, Podcast

Antonio Romero
Vice Minister of Investment and Competitiveness
Ministry of Economy of Guatemala
dmhurtarter@mineco.gob.gt
tradediplomacygt@minex.gob.gt

LATAM FDI: Hello. Welcome to another episode of the LATAM FDI podcast. In these recordings, we speak with people with intimate knowledge of foreign direct investment in the Latin American region. Today, Antonio Romero is with us. Antonio is the Vice Minister of Investment and Competitiveness with the Ministry of Economy in Guatemala. I want to welcome you, Antonio. Perhaps you could tell us a little about yourself and your organization, and then we’ll discuss opportunities for investment in Guatemala.

Antonio Romero: Thank you, Steven. It’s a pleasure to be here. As you said, I’m the Vice Minister for Investment and Competition. We also oversee competitiveness issues and work to create opportunities for investment in Guatemala. I’m part of President Arevalo’s government. I took office in February last year here at the Vice Ministry. And yeah, a key component of what we do here is work on attracting foreign direct investment. We also oversee aspects of the business climate, quality assurance for production, and customs incentives for companies that want to come to Guatemala. So, there are many things we can discuss around that. So very happy to be here, as I said.

LATAM FDI: Well, thanks. I have a few questions, and if you’d be so kind as to answer them, we can start now. First, I’d like to say that Guatemala has the largest population in Central America. And as that being the case, what role does the country’s growing consumer market and regional economic integration play in attracting FDI to your country?

Antonio Romero: Yes. Well, for one thing, I mean, as the largest market in the region, it is attractive to companies that want to do business here in different sectors because of the opportunities for investment in Guatemala. There’s a large consumer base. It is attractive in a country with macroeconomic stability and steady growth. But beyond that, Guatemala is well-positioned for companies to serve other countries in Central America based in Guatemala. And part of that has to do with the economic integration that has been happening in the region. This government continues to pursue and encourage, especially in the countries of Honduras and El Salvador. There’s a shared market of goods and services. We’re working on shared infrastructure and shared custom services. I’m missing the words aduanas, customs, and la frontera (border) to streamline trade processes, which has allowed us to become an attractive place for businesses to establish, produce, and from here, serve not only Central America but also the North American market, the US, Mexico. And with this large population, which is very young and growing, we have around 12 million working-age individuals. There are many opportunities for investment in Guatemala.

We offer an abundant, young labor force willing to work. Companies that come to Guatemala often mention that they are delighted with the labor force there. So, I think the size of our country in the context of the region and the conditions of our population, in addition to the work and the integration work with the rest of Central America, make us an attractive destination for investment.

LATAM FDI: How do government-backed initiatives and partnerships with international organizations support foreign investors in establishing and growing their businesses?

Antonio Romero: Well, there are several partnerships with different organizations. For one thing, we have bilateral cooperation and multilateral finance institutions to create opportunities for investment in Guatemala. With them, there’s a long-standing collaboration between the Guatemalan government and those institutions to foster conditions that attract investment, facilitate investment, and improve the business climate in Guatemala. So, some of the results of that collaboration have to do with finance facilities for different types of projects, especially those that have to do with the infrastructure that is necessary for companies to operate in Guatemala, technical assistance of various kinds, and also as a way to identify the opportunities for improvement that Guatemala has about the needs of companies, being energy requirements, being labor force requirements, training for the labor force, environmental regulations. So, we work with them around technical assistance and finance to improve conditions and offer facilities for opportunities for investment in Guatemala for companies operating in Guatemala, and that’s one of the aspects we work with different organizations. Then there are other organizations or international partnerships with businesses in the US and other countries, whereby there’s a dialog with companies interested in setting up a business in Guatemala or who already have part of the business in Guatemala.

And through that dialog, there’s a process of identifying the needs, the opportunities, making the connections necessary to make solutions happen, oftentimes between the government and potential investors overseas and also local investors, regarding, for example, issues with not only infrastructure, energy, communications, transportation, but also the procedures that companies need to follow to set up business and continue business in Guatemala that have to do with government offices. There’s been intense work on simplifying the democratic processes companies must go through to set up and continue their business to increase opportunities for investment in Guatemala. In those instances of dialog, we identify the issues and the solutions that the government can offer to offer the potential for synergies between government and private sectors and the integration of a dialog with the local company. So, from those dialogs, different initiatives often involve international cooperation. I guess that’s where these interactions with international partners come to fruition.

LATAM FDI: Guatemala is now a country rich in natural resources. Can you explain how that resource abundance and agricultural potential offer unique opportunities for investment in Guatemala?

Antonio Romero: So, Guatemala is very rich, as you said, in those resources. And we have a competitive advantage in that regard. We have abundant water resources, diverse raw materials, and different regions with different weather, where very distinct products can be produced. And this is attractive for industries focused on processed foods, beverages, and agricultural experts. Guatemala has expertise in these areas. This government is committed to sustainable development. There’s an opportunity to encourage sustainable practices and industries with strong, sustainable practices to come to Guatemala, take advantage of those resources, and respond to the international markets increasingly demanding more compliance to high sustainability standards, both environmental and social and other types. The energy production in Guatemala comes mostly from renewable sources, and we offer a stable and eco-friendly energy supply for resource-intensive industries. Again, this is especially true for those looking to comply with high sustainability standards. The other thing related to your first question is the access industries have to the rest of Central America and the North American market. We have port facilities, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. These create more opportunities for investment in Guatemala.

We have borders with Mexico, Salvador, and Honduras. There’s an increasing effort to streamline the logistics services throughout the countries. And I think that’s an agenda that comes very strongly. Hopefully, we will notice advances in the coming years, especially in transportation, infrastructure, energy, and commerce facilities.

LATAM FDI: Well, thanks for that answer. I know that the country is working on strengthening legal frameworks and investment protections that enhance investor confidence. Can you tell us a little bit about those initiatives?

Antonio Romero: Sure. For starters, the macroeconomic stability I mentioned earlier is one of the key attractive factors that creates opportunities for investment in Guatemala. Exchange rates are highly stable. Inflation is very well-controlled, and government spending, in general, the financial management of the government is very prudent. We have reasonable international reserves. From that starting point, the macroeconomic scenario is very stable and provides investors with confidence.

Regarding other legal frameworks, I can speak about recent work on streamlining bureaucratic processes. There have been several new laws that have been enacted, for example, and regulations, for example, the registration guides, which make it transparent for users, primarily investors, and companies, make it very transparent what the processes they need to follow are and what the criteria the public servants have to use to assess whether it be a permit, the registration of a product, intellectual property. This reduces the subjectivity of public officials in decision-making. That’s something that this government launched and will continue to advance in different ministries. Indeed, we have that in the Ministry of Economy for different windows of attention to invest investors, and basically, that works towards greater transparency for investors and greater confidence.

There’s also a National Trade Facilitation Plan that continues to review ways the legal system and government services can streamline and facilitate commerce. At the national level, there’s the recently enacted Competition Law, which investors constantly ask about. This law will create institutions that oversee competitive practices in Guatemalan markets. So basically, companies will now have a government institution to ensure no anti-competitive barriers to new or established companies in the market. So that provides, again, the certainty to investors that they will be able to operate under the free market rules. And wherever there’s a problem, there will be an independent institution. This is going to be a Superintendency. With enough autonomy to ensure the law is well applied. There are recent laws around infrastructure, which, again, aim to streamline how big infrastructure projects are implemented, working to fix some of the current bottlenecks, especially around the Ministry of Communications and Transportation activities. So, this is to allow the work of the Ministry to be more expeditious, and that, I think, works towards this need to have better infrastructure that provides a business climate to companies.

Finally, this government has been firmly committed to transparency and anti-corruption measures to make opportunities for investment in Guatemala more attractive. I think that’s become evident throughout the first year of government that there’s a very, very strong commitment to working in all areas of government towards that. And I think that’s very important for companies you want to establish in Guatemala.

LATAM FDI: In another area, I’ve read in various places that Guatemala is emerging as a technology hub in the region. Can you tell us about any initiatives implemented to assist and create opportunities for investment in Guatemala in the tech and startup sectors?

Antonio Romero: Yeah. So last year, we launched the new governmental Agency for Investment Attraction. There was no governmental institution dedicated solely and explicitly to attracting investment. We launched that last year with its strategy. In this strategy, we have identified several sectors we will focus on in the short, medium, and long term. In the short term, those sectors that are already attracted to investors are where investment is already happening. There’s international commerce around them, such as apparel, food and beverages, BPOS, and ITOS. Then there’s the mid-term, where there’s a need to work to strengthen an ecosystem of industries so that the country is attracted to them so that their needs can be satisfied. And in between the short and medium term, I’d say it’s the technology companies. There’s already some investment in software development and startup companies. From our side, we haven’t yet started to produce specific policies for those companies. But this year, we will begin with an innovation fund, offering financial facilities for startup companies that want to work on innovation to receive specific support. I think this is an area where we need to dive in more.

The Ministry of Economy hasn’t yet gotten to the stage where we work closely with them and design policies specific to that sector. But we do see the opportunity, and it is our intention to, as I said in the midterm, speak about the next two years and be able to create actions and policies that cater to this specific sector, where we do see a lot of potential. Things are happening, but I think we need to create policies to speed up the development already happening in the country.

LATAM FDI: How does Guatemala’s participation in the Northern Triangle Regional Economic Development Strategy and El Salvador and Honduras create new opportunities for foreign investors?

Antonio Romero: Well, first of all, streamlining commerce, facilitating commerce. That produces immediate results, and companies feel immediate, reducing the times in which products have passed through the different borders, which immediately reduces costs for companies and facilitates commerce. And there’s been intense work between the Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras governments to work around that. That’s one thing. There are also different regional initiatives, such as the master plan on mobility and logistics, which includes investments in airports, sports, and road infrastructure. There are opportunities to see the region as one market. This already happens, but there are still challenges in mobility, transportation, and customs facilities. Rebuilding those obstacles around those areas will multiply opportunities because you will have a market of around 50 million people in Central America. The connections to the different markets, the Atlantic and the Pacific ports, are already there. For example, the flow of products from El Salvador to the ports in Guatemala is very significant. So, as we continue to facilitate these countries’ integration, it will make the Central American market in Guatemala more attractive and make it easier for businesses to come from Guatemala.

LATAM FDI: Well, we’ve covered a significant amount of area in this relatively brief conversation that we’ve had over the last few minutes. One of the things that always comes up is that people who listen to our podcast typically have questions they come to me with. However, I would like to create an environment where they can speak directly to the person interviewed. Would you be willing to provide a means of communication so that people could contact you directly, whether through a LinkedIn page or an email address or maybe through an individual who is one of your aides?

Antonio Romero: Sure, I could provide an email to one of my aides, and that would be a good way to establish contact. Well, you can email that to me later. I will place the transcript section on the web page that hosts this podcast. Just a quick question: Do you have a LinkedIn page as well?

Antonio Romero: I have a personal one but haven’t worked on my vice minister one, so that’s still pending.

LATAM FDI: Okay, so we’ll leave it with the email address for one of your aides.

Antonio Romero: Yes.

LATAM FDI: I want to thank you for joining me today. It’s exciting watching the developments in Guatemala. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to talk in the future and discuss some things that have transpired since this day.

Antonio Romero: Thank you. Thank you, Steve. My pleasure. Looking forward to that.

Antonio Romerio
Vice Minister of Investment and Competitiveness
Ministry of Economy of Guatemala
dmhurtarter@mineco.gob.gt
tradediplomacygt@minex.gob.gt

LATAM FDI: Hello. Welcome to another episode of the LATAM FDI podcast. In these recordings, we speak with people with intimate knowledge of foreign direct investment in the Latin American region. Today, Antonio Romero is with us. Antonio is the Vice Minister of Investment and Competitiveness with the Ministry of Economy in Guatemala. I want to welcome you, Antonio. Perhaps you could tell us a little about yourself and your organization, and then we’ll discuss opportunities for investment in Guatemala.

Antonio Romaro: Thank you, Steven. It’s a pleasure to be here. As you said, I’m the Vice Minister for Investment and Competition. We also oversee competitiveness issues and work to create opportunities for investment in Guatemala. I’m part of President Arevalo’s government. I took office in February last year here at the Vice Ministry. And yeah, a key component of what we do here is work on attracting foreign direct investment. We also oversee aspects of the business climate, quality assurance for production, and customs incentives for companies that want to come to Guatemala. So, there are many things we can discuss around that. So very happy to be here, as I said.

LATAM FDI: Well, thanks. I have a few questions, and if you’d be so kind as to answer them, we can start now. First, I’d like to say that Guatemala has the largest population in Central America. And as that being the case, what role does the country’s growing consumer market and regional economic integration play in attracting FDI to your country?

Antonio Romerio: Yes. Well, for one thing, I mean, as the largest market in the region, it is attractive to companies that want to do business here in different sectors because of the opportunities for investment in Guatemala. There’s a large consumer base. It is attractive in a country with macroeconomic stability and steady growth. But beyond that, Guatemala is well-positioned for companies to serve other countries in Central America based in Guatemala. And part of that has to do with the economic integration that has been happening in the region. This government continues to pursue and encourage, especially in the countries of Honduras and El Salvador. There’s a shared market of goods and services. We’re working on shared infrastructure and shared custom services. I’m missing the words aduanas, customs, and la frontera (border) to streamline trade processes, which has allowed us to become an attractive place for businesses to establish, produce, and from here, serve not only Central America but also the North American market, the US, Mexico. And with this large population, which is very young and growing, we have around 12 million working-age individuals. There are many opportunities for investment in Guatemala.

We offer an abundant, young labor force willing to work. Companies that come to Guatemala often mention that they are delighted with the labor force there. So, I think the size of our country in the context of the region and the conditions of our population, in addition to the work and the integration work with the rest of Central America, make us an attractive destination for investment.

LATAM FDI: How do government-backed initiatives and partnerships with international organizations support foreign investors in establishing and growing their businesses?

Antonio Romerio: Well, there are several partnerships with different kinds of organizations. For one thing, we have bilateral cooperation and multilateral finance institutions to create opportunities for investment in Guatemala. With them, there’s a long-standing collaboration between the Guatemalan government and those institutions to foster conditions that attract investment, facilitate investment, and improve the business climate in Guatemala. So, some of the results of that collaboration have to do with finance facilities for different types of projects, especially those that have to do with the infrastructure that is necessary for companies to operate in Guatemala, technical assistance of various kinds, and also as a way to identify the opportunities for improvement that Guatemala has about the needs of companies, being energy requirements, being labor force requirements, training for the labor force, environmental regulations. So, we work with them around technical assistance and finance to improve conditions and offer facilities for opportunities for investment in Guatemala for companies operating in Guatemala, and that’s one of the aspects we work with different organizations. Then there are other organizations or international partnerships with businesses in the US and other countries, whereby there’s a dialog with companies interested in setting up a business in Guatemala or who already have part of the business in Guatemala.

And through that dialog, there’s a process of identifying the needs, the opportunities, making the connections necessary to make solutions happen, oftentimes between the government and potential investors overseas and also local investors, regarding, for example, issues with not only infrastructure, energy, communications, transportation, but also the procedures that companies need to follow to set up business and continue business in Guatemala that have to do with government offices. There’s been intense work on simplifying the democratic processes companies must go through to set up and continue their business to increase opportunities for investment in Guatemala. In those instances of dialog, we identify the issues and the solutions that the government can offer to offer the potential for synergies between government and private sectors and the integration of a dialog with the local company. So, from those dialogs, different initiatives often involve international cooperation. I guess that’s where these interactions with international partners come to fruition.

LATAM FDI: Guatemala is now a country rich in natural resources. Can you explain how that resource abundance and agricultural potential offer unique opportunities for investment in Guatemala?

Antonio Romerio: So, Guatemala is very rich, as you said, in those resources. And we have a competitive advantage in that regard. We have abundant water resources, diverse raw materials, and different regions with different weather, where very distinct products can be produced. And this is attractive for industries focused on processed foods, beverages, and agricultural experts. Guatemala has expertise in these areas. This government is committed to sustainable development. There’s an opportunity to encourage sustainable practices and industries with strong, sustainable practices to come to Guatemala, take advantage of those resources, and respond to the international markets increasingly demanding more compliance to high sustainability standards, both environmental and social and other types. The energy production in Guatemala comes mostly from renewable sources, and we offer a stable and eco-friendly energy supply for resource-intensive industries. Again, this is especially true for those looking to comply with high sustainability standards. The other thing related to your first question is the access industries have to the rest of Central America and the North American market. We have port facilities, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. These create more opportunities for investment in Guatemala.

We have borders with Mexico, Salvador, and Honduras. There’s an increasing effort to streamline the logistics services throughout the countries. And I think that’s an agenda that comes very strongly. Hopefully, we will notice advances in the coming years, especially in transportation, infrastructure, energy, and commerce facilities.

LATAM FDI: Well, thanks for that answer. I know that the country is working on strengthening legal frameworks and investment protections that enhance investor confidence. Can you tell us a little bit about those initiatives?

Antonio Romerio: Sure. For starters, the macroeconomic stability I mentioned earlier is one of the key attractive factors that creates opportunities for investment in Guatemala. Exchange rates are highly stable. Inflation is very well-controlled, and government spending, in general, the financial management of the government is very prudent. We have reasonable international reserves. From that starting point, the macroeconomic scenario is very stable and provides investors with confidence. Regarding other legal frameworks, I can speak about recent work on streamlining bureaucratic processes. There have been several new laws that have been enacted, for example, and regulations, for example, the registration guides, which make it transparent for users, primarily investors, and companies, make it very transparent what the processes they need to follow are and what the criteria the public servants have to use to assess whether it be a permit, the registration of a product, intellectual property. This reduces the subjectivity of public officials in decision-making. That’s something that this government launched and will continue to advance in different ministries. Indeed, we have that in the Ministry of Economy for different windows of attention to invest investors, and basically, that works towards greater transparency for investors and greater confidence.

There’s also a National Trade Facilitation Plan that continues to review ways the legal system and government services can streamline and facilitate commerce. At the national level, there’s the recently enacted Competition Law, which investors constantly ask about. This law will create institutions that oversee competitive practices in Guatemalan markets. So basically, companies will now have a government institution to ensure no anti-competitive barriers to new or established companies in the market. So that provides, again, the certainty to investors that they will be able to operate under the free market rules. And wherever there’s a problem, there will be an independent institution. This is going to be a Superintendency. With enough autonomy to ensure the law is well applied. There are recent laws around infrastructure, which, again, aim to streamline how big infrastructure projects are implemented, working to fix some of the current bottlenecks, especially around the Ministry of Communications and Transportation activities. So, this is to allow the work of the Ministry to be more expeditious, and that, I think, works towards this need to have better infrastructure that provides a business climate to companies.

Finally, this government has been firmly committed to transparency and anti-corruption measures to make opportunities for investment in Guatemala more attractive. I think that’s become evident throughout the first year of government that there’s a very, very strong commitment to working in all areas of government towards that. And I think that’s very important for companies you want to establish in Guatemala.

LATAM FDI: In another area, I’ve read in various places that Guatemala is emerging as a technology hub in the region. Can you tell us about any initiatives implemented to assist and create opportunities for investment in Guatemala in the tech and startup sectors?

Antonio Romerio: Yeah. So last year, we launched the new governmental Agency for Investment Attraction. There was no governmental institution dedicated solely and explicitly to attracting investment. We launched that last year with its strategy. In this strategy, we have identified several sectors we will focus on in the short, medium, and long term. In the short term, those sectors that are already attracted to investors are where investment is already happening. There’s international commerce around them, such as apparel, food and beverages, BPOS, and ITOS. Then there’s the mid-term, where there’s a need to work to strengthen an ecosystem of industries so that the country is attracted to them so that their needs can be satisfied. And in between the short and medium term, I’d say it’s the technology companies. There’s already some investment in software development and startup companies. From our side, we haven’t yet started to produce specific policies for those companies. But this year, we will begin with an innovation fund, offering financial facilities for startup companies that want to work on innovation to receive specific support. I think this is an area where we need to dive in more.

The Ministry of Economy hasn’t yet gotten to the stage where we work closely with them and design policies specific to that sector. But we do see the opportunity, and it is our intention to, as I said in the midterm, speak about the next two years and be able to create actions and policies that cater to this specific sector, where we do see a lot of potential. Things are happening, but I think we need to create policies to speed up the development already happening in the country.

LATAM FDI: How does Guatemala’s participation in the Northern Triangle Regional Economic Development Strategy and El Salvador and Honduras create new opportunities for foreign investors?

Antonio Romerio: Well, first of all, streamlining commerce, facilitating commerce. That produces immediate results, and companies feel immediate, reducing the times in which products have passed through the different borders, which immediately reduces costs for companies and facilitates commerce. And there’s been intense work between the Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras governments to work around that. That’s one thing. There are also different regional initiatives, such as the master plan on mobility and logistics, which includes investments in airports, sports, and road infrastructure. There are opportunities to see the region as one market. This already happens, but there are still challenges in mobility, transportation, and customs facilities. Rebuilding those obstacles around those areas will multiply opportunities because you will have a market of around 50 million people in Central America. The connections to the different markets, the Atlantic and the Pacific ports, are already there. For example, the flow of products from El Salvador to the ports in Guatemala is very significant. So, as we continue to facilitate these countries’ integration, it will make the Central American market in Guatemala more attractive and make it easier for businesses to come from Guatemala.

LATAM FDI: Well, we’ve covered a significant amount of area in this relatively brief conversation that we’ve had over the last few minutes. One of the things that always comes up is that people who listen to our podcast typically have questions they come to me with. However, I would like to create an environment where they can speak directly to the person interviewed. Would you be willing to provide a means of communication so that people could contact you directly, whether through a LinkedIn page or an email address or maybe through an individual who is one of your aides?

Antonio Romerio: Sure, I could provide an email to one of my aides, and that would be a good way to establish contact. Well, you can email that to me later. I will place the transcript section on the web page that hosts this podcast. Just a quick question: Do you have a LinkedIn page as well?

Antonio Romerio: I have a personal one, but I haven’t worked on my vice minister one, so that’s still pending.

LATAM FDI: Okay, so we’ll leave it with the email address for one of your aides.

Antonio Romerio: Yes.

LATAM FDI: I want to thank you for joining me today. It’s exciting watching the developments in Guatemala. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to talk in the future and discuss some things that have transpired since this day.

Antonio Romerio: Thank you. Thank you, Steve. My pleasure. Looking forward to that.