Trade and Business in Puerto Rico, San Juan

The objectives of the subject «Doing Business in Puerto Rico» are the following:

1. To analyze the Puerto Rican economy and Foreign Trade (Import, Export, FDI)
2. To explore the Business Opportunities in Puerto Rico
3. To analyze the trade relations of Puerto Rico with the country of the student
4. To know the Free Trade Agreements of Puerto Rico
5. To develop a business plan for the Puerto Rican market

Puerto Rico is a free state associated to the United States created in 1952

1. Puerto Rican capital: San Juan (the Caribbean metropolis)
   1. San Juan has the highest quality of life index in Latin America
   2. Urban Train: passenger train service between various points in the San Juan Metropolitan Area
2. Main Puerto Rican cities: San Juan, Bayamón, Carolina, Ponce, Caguas, Guaynabo, Arecibo, Toa Baja, Mayagüez and Trujillo Alto
3. Main Islands: Vieques, Mona and Culebra
4. Puerto Rico does not share land borders with any country
5. Nearest countries to Puerto Rico by sea: Haiti, the British Virgin Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, Montserrat and Dominican Republic
6. Puerto Rico is 1,600 km South-east of Miami (Florida)
7. Area of Puerto Rico: 9.104 square kilometres
8. Puerto Ricans have had U.S. citizenship since 1917
9. Population of Puerto Rico: 3.6 million people
   1. Puerto Rican Population density: 390 inhabitants / square kilometres
   2. 12% of the population has an African origin (African Diaspora) the rest is white and mixed
10. The first official language of Puerto Rico is Spanish
    1. English (second official language) is barely spoken by 10% of the population
11. Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico: 1873
12. Climate of Puerto Rico: tropical
13. 1493: discovery by the Spanish (Isla de San Juan Bautista)
14. 1987: Spanish province
15. 1898:
    1. Spanish-American war
    2. Independence from Spain (with Cuba and Philippines)
    3. Colonization of Puerto Rico by the United States
16. Government type: free state associated to the United States with self-government status
17. Puerto Rico has its own constitution (only for domestic affairs)

Main religion in Puerto Rico: Christianity (Catholicism)

Puerto Rico belongs to the Caribbean Economic Area and the North American Economic Area of the Western Civilization

Sample:

Puerto Rican Economy

1. The Puerto Rican economy is one of the largest in Latin America
2. GDP Puerto Rican: 103.134 million dollars
3. GDP per capita of Puerto Rico: 32.063 Dollars
   1. It is the highest nominal GDP per capita in Latin America
4. World Bank Ranking: Non-OECD high-income economy
5. Public debt: 103% of the Puerto Rican GDP
6. Tourism is one of the pillars of the Puerto Rican economy
7. San Juan is an important centre of international events
8. Important growth of the financial sector and the aeronautical industry
9. Important pharmaceutical industry
   1. Presence of pharmaceutical multinationals (Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline...
10. Puerto Rico does not have sufficient natural resources
11. Main agricultural products: sugar cane, coffee, pineapple, banana, chickens
12. Investment Code: Puerto Rico Investment Promotion Act of 2011
13. September 2017: serious economic consequences caused by Hurricane Maria
14. Puerto Rico currency: United States dollar (USD)
15. Puerto Rico does not have its own Internet Code

International Transport and Logistics in Puerto Rico:

1. Main seaports:
   1. Port of San Juan: it is the busiest port in the Caribbean and the tenth most active in the United States
   2. Port of the Americas in Ponce (major expansion project to increase the cargo capacity for twenty-foot containers)
   3. Port Mayagüez: It is the third largest cargo port in Puerto Rico. Connection with the Dominican Republic.
2. 14.400 Kilometres of paved roads
   1. Puerto Rico has several highways (free and paid)
3. Port of Ponce railway
4. Puerto Rico has three international airports: San Juan, Ponce and Aguadilla
   1. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (Carolina): It is the largest air transport centre in the Caribbean.
   2. Mercedita Airport (Ponce)
   3. Rafael Hernández Airport (Aguadilla), and 27 local airports.

Puerto Rican Foreign Trade

1. Main exports of Puerto Rico: pharmaceuticals products, chemicals, electronics, rum, beverage concentrates, medical equipment, tuna, clothing...
2. Main export markets of Puerto Rico: United States, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy and Spain
3. Main imports of Puerto Rico: chemicals products, machinery, food, petroleum products, clothing, fish
4. Largest providers of Puerto Rico: United States, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland and South Korea

Economic Organizations to which Puerto Rico belongs under the tutelage of the United States

Puerto Rico is an associate member to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

Puerto Rico is an associate member to the Organization of American States (OAS)

1. United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)
2. Latin American countries: Chile, Colombia, Peru, Central America-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR), Panama, the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), and the Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act (Haiti)
3. Asian countries: South Korea, Australia, Singapore, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
4. European countries: European Union (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership)
5. Arab countries: Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, and Morocco
6. African countries: African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), agreements with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), East African Community (EAC), and COMESA
1. Agreement with Israel
7. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Puerto Rican Preferential Access and Free Trade Agreements

1. Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Economic Area / North American Economic Area
2. Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (observer member)
   1. CARIFORUM-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement
   2. Colombia-CARICOM Agreement (Puerto Rico)
   3. Free Trade Agreement CARICOM-Dominican Republic
   4. Costa Rica-Caribbean Community Agreement (Puerto Rico)
3. As an Associated Free State, Puerto Rico is beneficiary of all the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) of the United States.

Trade Facilitation Programs

1. World Trade Organization (WTO)
   1. WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
   2. WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
   3. WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
   4. WTO Agreement on Preshipment Inspection (PSI)
   5. WTO Agreement on Safeguards (SG)
   6. WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)
2. World Customs Organization (WCO)
   1. Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC)
3. International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods (UNECE)

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