By Lara Holmes

The European Union (EU) will formally resume the negotiating rounds for a partnership agreement with all Central American countries next week in Brussels, in which will also be Honduras, whose political crisis caused by the June coup led to the suspension of said process.

This was announced today by the European Commission (EC), which said in a statement that it will work with representatives of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica next week, at the same time it will carry out rounds parallelly with Colombia and Peru to achieve a free trade agreement can be final.

 

It noted that Panama will continue to participate in the negotiation rounds as an observer, as they have already initiated internal procedures in the EU and Central America to formalize their total as  partners in negotiations, as requested by this country.

 

European and American negotiators will meet again between 22 and 26 February to resume talks on bi-regional Association Agreement EU-Central America in order to quickly conclude negotiations that are well advanced, the Commission said.

He recalled that this type of agreement aims to bring together the two regions in a global partnership covering political dialogue on issues like human rights, climate change, science and technology and global governance and cooperation and free trade.

In this section, both blocks are mutually guaranteed preferential access to their products, services and investments.

The Commission recalled that the EU is an important market for Central American products, such as bananas, coffee, shrimp or fish, but also for many manufactured goods, while noting that this region also has a huge potential as a destination for European exports and investments.

The EU executive also reported that it has agreed a program of intensive negotiations that includes a mini-trade round in late March to drive this section of the agreement, the most complex of all, and a new round with the three pillars (political dialogue , cooperation and trade) in April.

The goal remains European and Central American Association Agreement signed on 18 May in Madrid, on the occasion of the Euro-Latin American summit to be held under the Spanish EU Presidency.

The chief negotiator for Costa Rica, Roberto Echandi, told Efe his optimism about the resumption of negotiations, which were resolved by 95 percent when the coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras caused the suspension thereof.

Echandi said he expected significant progress in the regulatory area of the trade chapter, access to markets, health standards, trade defense or technical barriers to trade, noting that aim to reach the round of April with very few areas to be closed.

He said Costa Rica aims to improve access conditions to the EU of products such as bananas, sugar, meat, rice, foods high in sugar and rum, as well as services and government procurement.

For its part, Nicaragua reported that Foreign Minister Samuel Santos will be next week in Brussels, where he will monitor the progress of the negotiations.