El Salvador, Taiwan’s diplomatic ally in Central America, has a rich culture of local arts and crafts. In order to assist El Salvador enhance product packaging and marketing and increase the added value of local products, the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) and El Salvador implemented the Local Characteristic Industries Development Project. A new chocolate, Coboa, produced using local cocoa beans and packaged in a gift box, was presented recently at an event held at Cultural Corridor in San Sebastián and hosted by Ambassador of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in El Salvador, Hon. Florence Miao-Hung Hsie and Ms. Ileana Rogel, President of the National Commission of the Micro and Small Business (Comisión Nacional de la Micro y la Pequeña Empresa, CONAMYPE). Around 230 participants joined the event, including Vice President of Don Bosco University (UDB), Jose Humberto Flores, President of Taiwan Package Design Association, Mr. Owen Yuan, as well as designers and artisans.

In her speech, Ms. Rogel expressed special thanks to the Taiwanese government for helping to boost local economic growth and enhance the competitiveness of rural handicraft enterprises through the Coworking Center UDB. She also mentioned that El Salvador developed the One Town, One Product (OTOP) plan in 2010 with assistance from its partners. To date, 95 villages and towns have participated in this plan and many communities have followed to develop local products and find their niche market.

Mr. Yuan indicated that the culture of El Salvador is imbued with artistic elements. However, the country is confined by industrial production and traditional sales in terms of design and has been unable to break through the old concepts of the past to establish a mature value chain.

At the event, the Coworking Center UDB, which was established with assistance provided by this project, demonstrated innovations in craftsmanship and the ambition to develop a complete value chain. The vitality and diversity of small and micro enterprises, handicraft artists and young designers were apparent.

The TaiwanICDF and El Salvador jointly implemented the One Town, One Product Project from 2014 to 2017. The project successfully raised the output value of the local ceramics industry by 25 percent. Since 2017, the TaiwanICDF has promoted the Local Characteristic Industries Development Project to further develop industry-academia-government collaboration and incorporate elements of local culture into the design and branding of products, to gradually expand the potential of El Salvador for cultural innovation in the local characteristics industry.

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• Update: 2018/07/03
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