 |
|
|
|
Central American Trade Talks Are Progressing, Say Officials 01 August 2003 Establishment of CAFTA Trade Capacity Building Institute announced By
Scott Miller Washington -- Negotiations to create a free-trade agreement between the United States and five Central American nations are progressing, says Regina Vargo, assistant U.S. trade representative for the Americas. Speaking August 1 at the conclusion of the sixth round of Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiations, Vargo said that the U.S. Senate's approval of U.S. free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore on July 31 put "a good wind in the sail" of the negotiators from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the United States assembled in New Orleans for the week. And already, she added, progress has been made in many areas. Vargo said that CAFTA market-access discussions continue to be "valuable and productive" and will lay the foundation for the exchange of new offers. She noted that talks on the subjects of customs administration and electronic commerce were particularly successful, indicating that negotiations in these areas "advanced significantly" with only final reviews needed on the subjects. Costa Rica's chief trade negotiator in New Orleans, Anabel Gonzalez, echoed Vargo's positive assessment of the CAFTA talks. "We have begun to see the fruits of our work this week," she said. "We still have a lot of work ahead, but we are on the right track." Gonzalez and El Salvador's chief negotiator, Eduardo Ayala Grimaldi, both emphasized the fundamental importance of enhancing Central America's ability to better benefit from free trade as part of the CAFTA process. Trade capacity-building, Ayala Grimaldi explained, "allows us to strengthen areas where we need it; it is vital to allow us to accept the challenges of globalization and take advantage of CAFTA." To assist in bolstering the region's trade capacity, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin announced that the city will establish the CAFTA Trade Capacity Building Institute. He said the institute will be a "think tank where government and business officials from Central America could come to prepare for the changes we know CAFTA will bring." The next round of CAFTA talks are to be held in Managua, Nicaragua, and negotiators have said they hope to finalize the agreement by the end of 2003.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
|
|
