Central American Nations to Meet on Free Trade With U.S.

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 22, 2001

Central American Nations to Meet on Free Trade With U.S.

Central American trade ministers will meet in El Salvador next week to discuss a proposal for negotiations on a free trade agreement with the United States, Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Minister Tomas Duenas announced San Jose on Wednesday.

Duenas said the U.S. has shown more willingness to sign a trade agreement with the subregion after the Fourth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Meeting on November 9-13 in Doha, Qatar.

"After the efforts to launch a new round of trade talks, there is in the United States a good atmosphere to negotiate a trade treaty with Central America," he insisted.

According to Duenas, the agreement signed between Costa Rica and Canada in April this year helped create a positive atmosphere for the U.S. government to take a policy of open trade.

"If the U.S. Congress approves the authorization of commercial promotion requested by President George W. Bush, the process of treaty-oriented negotiations with the Central American countries will go faster," Duenas said.

Costa Rica has signed trade treaties with Chile, Canada and the Dominican Republic and is negotiating another with Trinidad and Tobago.

Ministers Recommend to Create Central American Research Network

Drought Spreads Hunger in Central America