Brussels, 04/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua) concluded on Friday 29 February a second round of talks with a view to signing an association agreement between the two regional partners (see EUROPE 9458). They will exchange their first trade offers in mid-March for the goods and services sectors. A next meeting will be held mid-April in El Salvador, after which three other negotiating rounds will be scheduled. Panama, which attended the meeting as an observer country, may in future join the talks.
“We need Europe to be more in evidence than it has been in the past two decades. Our aims are objective with a view to having a greater European presence in the region because there is a call for Europe”, said Roberto Echandi, the Costa-Rican ambassador and spokesman for the Central American countries, AFP reports. “We are pleased that an indicative timeframe has been set for concluding this process by 2009”, said João Aguiar Machado, Chief Negotiator for the European Commission. Promoting regional integration, Europeans welcome the recent signing of a customs agreement between the countries of Central America. They are now pushing for the conclusion of a regional treaty for the free movement of services and investments and the creation of a regional dispute settlement body.
The EU-Central America association agreement will be made up of three parts: - political dialogue, cooperation in many fields (health, education, combating poverty, sustainable resource management, regional integration), and economic development. (M.B.)