The Rosselló Plan, certified by the Financial Oversight and Management Board this past Monday, March 13, is Puerto Rico’s Economic Development Plan.

It outlines the essential principles to attract, retain, and grow the strategic sectors that are a priority for the current Administration: advanced manufacturing, aerospace, sustainable agriculture, technology, visitor economy, and service exports.

Public Policy:

To drive these strategic sectors—within a framework of fiscal responsibility, transparency, accountability, and performance measurement—the economic development plan seeks to incentivize productivity and added value through innovation, technology, and exports.

Productivity and added value enable our local businesses to provide high-quality, creatively driven goods and services at competitive prices. These offerings can be exported to niche markets in the mainland United States, as well as to the rest of the world.

Tools:

We have already begun drafting a new Incentives Code, which aims to measure the cost-benefit and return on investment of all economic incentives offered by Puerto Rico. Additionally, a comprehensive asset map is being developed. This digital, analytically capable platform will showcase all of Puerto Rico’s available assets in one place—from industrial buildings to innovation hubs and clusters in health and tourism.

Moreover, to make Puerto Rico a more competitive destination for investment, labor reform was approved by legislation, and permitting reform is currently under review by the Legislature. Tax and energy reforms will also be introduced shortly. Finally, an inventory of investment opportunities has been prepared, spanning both infrastructure and innovation-focused areas. Many of these projects will be executed through the model of Participatory Public-Private Partnerships (P4s).

Organizations:
The recently enacted Law 13-2017 establishes the creation of Enterprise Puerto Rico, a nonprofit organization tasked with attracting new companies and capital investment to the island. Similarly, legislation is under review to establish a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO).

This new nonprofit will ensure consistency and continuity in promoting Puerto Rico as a premier visitor destination.

Additionally, the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust will be strengthened with the goal of positioning Puerto Rico as a global innovation hub. Yet none of this will be enough unless we succeed in growing our small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To this end, the Department of Economic Development and its umbrella entities, as part of the New Government initiative, will take on the new responsibility of promoting entrepreneurship, connecting foreign investment with local businesses, and ensuring that Enterprise Puerto Rico, the DMO, and the Science Trust perform effectively and deliver the expected outcomes.

Certainly, the challenges are immense. While some only see the crisis, we see opportunity. The Governor’s vision is clear: to achieve long-term, sustainable economic development.
Our commitment to the people of Puerto Rico is to execute this vision and make it a reality.