Building ties with Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (WWLP) - There are just as many Puerto Ricans living abroad as there are here on the island and a great number of them live in western Massachusetts.

That’s why business leaders with the Massachusetts Latino Chamber of Commerce are joining forces with officials in Puerto Rico.

Vanessa Otero, the Director of the North End Campus Coalition and a member of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority told 22News, “The demographics speak for themselves so this is really an opportunity to make use of that in a real way.”

Caguas is the sister city of Springfield and while the two cities have many things in common, there is one thing most of Puerto Rico has that Springfield doesn’t and that’s tourism.

Otero said, “This has been a great experience for me because it allows me to speak to industry leaders and promote the Mass Mutual Center as a destination for their industries to meet and connect with stuff that is happening in the states particularly the Latino community.” :

While we don’t have the sand or the ocean in Springfield, business leaders say there is opportunity and they’re taking what Puerto Rico does well and bringing it back to the states.

Eric Maldonado, a Springfield business owner, said “It’s so focused on tourism I mean the ideas here are limitless of what we can do in Springfield, I mean we have the Basketball Hall of Fame, we have this great theater the Paramount and the convention center, the Mass Mutual Center, we have so much opportunity to bring things that can definitely flourish in Springfield.”