Turkey’s Yilport company announced recently that it will invest more than 1.6 billion US dollars in El Salvador.
This is a truly historic move on behalf of Turkey as it is set to be the largest foreign investment in the history of El Salvador.
Turkish holding company Yilport has promised a massive $1.62 billion investment in El Salvador’s port infrastructure, in an attempt to modernize the country’s ports and boost commerce.
The deal was agreed during a visit of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to Turkey in 2022 and is now expected to come into effect.
Turkey’s Yilport will expand and then operate jointly the La Union and Acajutla ports on El Salvador’s Pacific coast. The agreement for this investment states that the Turkish company will remain there for the next 50 years.
Turkey modernizing El Salvador’s ports
A large amount of the 1.6 billion US dollars will be directed at modernizing the Acajutla port, which is the primary maritime gateway of El Salvador.
Yilport also plans to introduce new equipment and infrastructure to the port to make commerce better and more efficient. The Turkish company aims to reduce transit times and triple the port’s current capacity, goals that are very ambitious.
These upgrades, once completed, are expected to boost the competitiveness of El Salvador’s primary port and attract increased trade flows that will benefit the local economy as well as the investors.
The La Union port is another port that is expected to benefit from the Turkish investment. It is strategically located near the Gulf of Fonseca, and it is expected to receive a major overhaul as well.
The ambitious plans of Turkey’s Yilport include dredging the port, acquiring new loading equipment such as cranes, and commencing construction of new facilities that will help trade flows run smoothly.
Notably, the La Union port is envisioned to serve as a key hub for President Bukele’s ambitious Bitcoin City project.
This project is an ambitious target of the President of the country to establish a cryptocurrency-focused city at the base of the Conchagua volcano. The city is planned to be powered with geothermal energy and offer a tax-free status to its residents.
El Salvador and its economy
El Salvador is a small and particularly densely populated country in Central America with a population of 6.3 million people.
The country borders the Pacific Ocean to the west, Guatemala, and Honduras.
The country is known as the “Land of Volcanoes” because it is situated at the meeting point of three tectonic plates. This particular element of the country is what makes it highly seismologically active, similar to Greece.
The economy of El Salvador is mainly focused on manufacturing and agricultural production.
The manufacturing sector emphasizes producing beverages, canned foods, organic fertilizers, cement, and pharmaceuticals, amongst other products. Agriculture also plays a significant role in the nation’s economy, something that makes its port infrastructure all more important.