On the 10th September 2010 St. Jude Medical announced that they plan to hire another 2,000 employees in Costa Rica and, they will invest an additional US$670,000,000 in Costa Rica over the next five years.

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This represents a larger investment over a shorter period of time than the previous record investment of US$725 million invested by Intel in Costa Rica over the past 13 years.



St. Jude Medical is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and: “At St. Jude Medical we’re dedicated to developing medical technology and services that put more control in the hands of physicians, and that advance the practice of medicine and contribute to successful outcomes for every patient.”



According to the New York Stock Exchange: “St. Jude Medical, Inc. (St. Jude) develops, manufactures and distributes cardiovascular medical devices for the global cardiac rhythm management, cardiology and cardiac surgery and atrial fibrillation therapy areas and implantable neurostimulation devices for the management of chronic pain. The Company operates in four business segments: Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM), Cardiovascular (CV), Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and Advanced Neuromodulation Systems (ANS).”







St. Jude Medical will invest this enormous sum of money in infrastructure, equipment and for the salaries for the 2,000 new employees. The company has already invested $55 million (of a total of $71 million to be invested in 2010) in the construction and equipment for the new 32,500M2 (350,000 square-foot) manufacturing plant in the Trade Free Zone in Coyol, Alajuela.



“We are honored to have President Chinchilla, Foreign Trade Minister Gonzalez and many other business and community leaders here with us today to celebrate the grand opening of our new facility,” said the President and CEO of St. Jude Medical Dan Starks. “The pro-business environment, skilled workforce and strategic location made the Coyol Free Zone a natural choice for St. Jude Medical to manufacture our life-sustaining technologies.”



Daniel Starks says that: “In Costa Rica we found a quality labor force, business culture, ethics, the legal system and education.” He added: “This country has the ideal environment for different reasons and until now Costa Rica has exceeded our expectations”. And “Another factor that stands out is the country offers an ideal environment for investment and growth”.



Not only does St. Jude Medical produce the heart valves in Costa Rica, they assemble, sterilize, pack and distribute them. Global leaders in their field like St. Jude Medical – listed on the New York Stock Exchange – do not invest more than half a BILLION dollars anywhere without feeling extremely confident in the local workforce, and in the general business and political environment and, they don’t send their top, very highly paid executives and their families to foreign countries unless they believe they will be safe and secure.



In doing your research into living and retiring in Costa Rica, if you feel it’s absolutely necessary to read all the sensational, bloody headlines that are published by the “if-it-bleeds-it-leads” newspapers, you’re obviously free to do so but please remember that when you carefully examine the facts with reputable and objective sources of information, you will probably come to the same conclusion that both Intel and St. Jude Medical did:


Costa Rica is good for business and it’s a great place to live!

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

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