San Jose, Costa Rica Leads in 4 Categories of Most Competitive Cities to Invest

• San Jose, Costa Rica was also ranked third and fifth in two additional categories.
• Report analyzed 12 business sectors.

San Jose, Costa Rica – November 23, 2015 – The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) announced San Jose as the leader in four categories in a report that ranked the most competitive cities for investment around the globe.

Costa Rica’s capital led in these Latin American categories:

• Best hub for Life Sciences.
• Best hub for Electronics Manufacturing.
• Best hub for Business and Financial Services.
• Best hub for Information Technologies.
• Third best hub for Transportation and Logistics Services.
• Fifth best hub for Chemicals and Plastics.

“The World’s Most Competitive Cities 2015” report ranked the competitiveness of cities around the world to host companies in the sectors of aerospace; automotive; business and financial services; chemicals and plastics; electronics manufacturing; energy; food and beverages; IT and communications; life sciences; metals; transportation and logistics.

The report was released by a prestigious group of firms specialized in the analysis of potential hubs for the establishment of multinational operations including Conway, Moody’s Analytics, Tractus and Oxford Economics.

The methodology deployed by these firms took into account attractiveness and competitiveness to attract investment in urban areas with more than 500,000 people. Their conclusions derived from results of surveys and analysis of hard data.

“In four of the twelve evaluated sectors, San Jose ranks as the most attractive city for investment in Latin America and in another two it stands out among the five preferred locations. This is not by chance nor improvisation. Companies that have chosen the country as their business hub frequently highlight the high quality of the Costa Rican human resource as a main element of our value proposal to the investor”, said Alexander Mora, Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade.

“The trust that prestigious companies have put in Costa Rica fills us with pride; but, most importantly, it motivates us to double efforts to continue standing out as a competitive high value hub in the region and in the world. This administration is committed to continue investing in the professional careers that the country requires in order to continue offering talented human resource, besides working in the reduction of costs associated with the companies’ operability and improving the country’s infrastructure”, concluded Mora.

In the business and financial services sector, companies like Citi, State Farm, Teleperformance, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan & Chase add the most quantity of projects each, in cities like Phoenix and Columbus in the United States, Belfast in the United Kingdom and San Jose in Costa Rica.

“Occupying positions of privilege in this specialized ranking shows the good positioning that Costa Rica has among very strong international competition for attracting quality investment that impacts the country in a positive way. According to the ranking, the Life Sciences and Services sectors excel among the best qualified in the country”, expressed Jorge Sequeira, CINDE’s Managing Director.

“The performance of these sectors has been outstanding and has a high impact. In 2014 from Costa Rica’s total exports, 17% belonged to the services sector, IT and other technologies, and 13% belonged to medical equipment, currently the main industrial exportation product of Costa Rica”, said Sequeira.

The complete study can be accessed here: http://siteselection.epubxp.com/i/592128-2015

Main Cities in Latin America

Business and Financial Services

1-San Jose, Costa Rica
2-Santiago, Chile
3-Buenos Aires, Argentina
4-Panama City, Panama
5-Mexico City, México

Electronics Manufacturing

1-San Jose, Costa Rica
2-Tijuana, Mexico
3-Monterrey, Mexico
4-Santiago, Chile
5-Mexico City, Mexico

Communications and IT

1-San Jose, Costa Rica
2-Santiago, Chile
3-Queretaro, Mexico
4-Buenos Aires, Argentina
5-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Life Sciences

1-San Jose, Costa Rica
2-San Juan, Puerto Rico
3-Buenos Aires, Argentina
4-Lima, Peru
5-Mexico City, México

Chemicals and plastics

1-Buenos Aires, Argentina
2-Tijuana, México
3-Querétaro, México
4-Santiago, Chile
5-San José, Costa Rica

Transportation and Logistics

1-Buenos Aires, Argentina
2-Monterrey, Mexico
3-San Jose, Costa Rica
4-Panama City, Panama
5-Sao Paulo, Brazil

Source: The World’s Most Competitive Cities 2015