RIYADH: El Salvador, the Central American nation that recently established an embassy in Saudi Arabia, is eager to forge commercial and cultural ties with the Kingdom, its vice president said. Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh, Felix Ulloa said that El Salvador is positioning itself as a welcoming investment destination, focusing particularly on tourism to drive economic growth. Ulloa’s visit to FII8 comes just months after the Saudi Fund for Development signed an agreement with El Salvador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, opening avenues for developmental projects in the Central American nation. The agreement, signed in May, is focused on launching a water treatment and biogas energy project along the Acelhuate River, supported by a development loan from Saudi Arabia. “A month ago, we opened our embassy here. This is the first embassy of any Central American country in Saudi Arabia. Why? Because we want to strengthen our diplomatic relations with this beautiful country, with this government. We will soon move to the commercial relation, and we will move to the cultural interchange,” said Ulloa. He added: “I have a meeting with the universities in order to promote cultural interchange, bringing Saudis to El Salvador and taking Salvadorians to come over in order to strengthen these cultural relations.” The vice president emphasized that El Salvador is steadily evolving as a destination for tourism and investment, with notable improvements in security since President Nayib Bukele took office in 2019. “We have a very bad situation with the gangs who took over most of the nation’s territory. But with the new government of President Bukele, we are now the safest country in the Western Hemisphere,” said Ulloa. He further highlighted El Salvador’s openness to foreign direct investment, with a focus on sectors like tourism, renewable energy, and technology. Ulloa noted that the country has enacted regulatory reforms to streamline investments. “El Salvador is now in open arms for foreign direct investments. We are offering that through our government agency ‘Invest in El Salvador.’ We have approved a package of almost 40 new laws in order to facilitate the procedures to do business in El Salvador. Now, it is easy, with bureaucracy, without red tape,” said Ulloa. He added: “We also have opportunity for the digital economy. For instance, El Salvador is the first country in the world to approve a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, as legal tender. That happened in September 2021. Now, we have another law approving digital assets.” Ulloa added that El Salvador is enhancing infrastructure to support tourism, including new airports, the Pacific railroad, and additional highways.