The authorities at customs offices in Guatemala and Honduras have opened new routes for regional transit of goods between the two countries.
The aim of the opening of new routes at the borders between the two countries, in El Florido and Agua Caliente, is to streamline regional trade which has been blocked because of the protests over the application of a fee of $18 in Salvadoran customs offices for X-ray inspection of trucks.
Each of the Central American countries are entitled to export a minimum of 160 tons, with flexibility of origin.
Each of the countries has been assured 4% of the four thouand metric tons which correspond to exports to the European Union.
According to Salvador's Deputy Minister of economy, Mario Hernandez, the agreement establishes that among the six countries of Central America, 24% of the quota will be distributed equally, ie 4% or 160 metric tons.
On 20 and 21 May, representatives from more than 20 countries in America will discuss in El Salvador the features of this tool and its influence on foreign trade.
From a press release issued by the Ministry of Economy in El Salvador:
El Salvador has been selected as the site to host the Third Meeting of Single Foreign Trade Windows, an event that is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank and will be attended by representatives from 27 countries of Latin.
After signing the Association Agreement with the European Union, the private sector intends to discuss how to allocate the quotas to export to Europe.
A regional quota of 150.000 yearly tons was achieved for sugar, and will be split in 132.000 metric tons for raw sugar, and the rest for goods with high sugar concentration.
Laprensagrafica.com published comments by Mario Roger, Salvadoran Economy vice minister, on the subject: “there is a ministerial agreement on how to distribute export quotas. Two mechanisms can be used: the first, which we prefer, is that the private sector decides between them”.