El Salvador now has modern and secure border crossings, achieving a balance between trade facilitation and control. During the inauguration, the minister of Finance, Alejandro Zelaya, informed that the construction had an investment of more than US$15 million.

"This customs office meets all the requirements of a work of a developed country that aspires to the future, that wants to improve its commercial operations and that wants to be a model for the region. Not only because of the work, but also because more than US$3.6 billion in trade operations passed through these facilities last year, both in imports and exports", said the official.

He also noted that this customs office alone collects around US$200 million, which makes it the third most important in the country, only after Acajutla and El Amatillo.

"More than 20,000 people indirectly. This modernization allows us to shorten service times. We have shortened the clearance time from 10 minutes to one minute", said the general director of Customs, Benjamín Mayorga. He also indicated that this project has generated approximately 150 direct jobs, and added that so far this year, more than 30,000 operations have been registered.

This border precinct will house personnel from Aduanas, Migración, Ministerio de Salud, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG), the collection office of the Ministerio de Hacienda, Policía Nacional Civil (PNC), among others. The facilities are fully furnished and equipped with modern, up-to-date technology for border security surveillance and process flow control.

Translated by: A.M