An announcement has been made that an agreement will be signed between the two governments to build ten border crossings using funding from the Inter-American Development Bank.
From a press release issued by the Government of Guatemala:
250 million dollars will be invested in the installation of 10 border posts between Guatemala and Mexico.
The governments of Guatemala and Mexico will sign an agreement to build 10 border crossings between the two countries at a cost of $250 million, announced the president, Otto Perez Molina.
Rulers should be aware that a very large percentage of their people do not satisfy their hunger eating sovereignty but by eating rice and beans.
It seems that the current interest of the elected president of Costa Rica is to maintain the highest possible tension with Nicaragua.
Editorial
Undoubtedly, any gesture of rapprochement with the government of President Ortega will entail political costs for Luis Guillermo Solís, the next president of Costa Rica. But it is clear that this - the beginning of his term - was the best time to make that gesture, promoting a release of tension over the border dispute in the Caribbean area.
The 280 km stretch of road will run from Cocales, Suchitepéquez up to the border crossing between Guatemala and Mexico, Tecum Uman.
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (Micivi), Douglas Gonzalez announced the construction to be built using public funds which will be known as the "Border to Border" project.
"According to the Deputy Minister, the road section will cost $350 million and with a total fund of $280 million. The first phase of construction between Cocales Tecum Uman and is scheduled to end before the end of the Otto Pérez Molina administration and the other part could be advanced by 80 percent."
The Costa Rican government will ask the International Court of Justice to determine the border between the two countries in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Both countries have not reached an agreement over the delimitation of their maritime boundaries, and the recent decision by Nicaragua to tender exploration and exploitation of oil in Caribbean waters has alarmed the government of Costa Rica which has denounced Nicaragua for offering such licenses in areas that Costa Ricans consider belongs to them.
Producers in the sector are warning about a growth in contraband of agricultural products encouraged by a price differential and lack of border controls.
The border between Costa Rica and Panama, according to producers in the area, has become a corridor for the smuggling of agricultural goods. The large number of border posts (about 80) and the considerable distances, make it very difficult to control the movement of goods.
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.
"We cannot continue to be a region where trade is moving at 15 kph when developed countries have cargo moving at 60 kph."
Employers believe that border points and customs offices in Central America are limiting their work and reducing their competitiviness despite the fact that they have been selling products to each other for over a decade.
"We cannot continue to be a region where trade is moving at 15 kph when developed countries have cargo moving at 60 kph," said Jorge Daboub, president of the Federation of Private Entities of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (FEDEPRICAP).
If it is not for one reason it is another: now cargo is building up in Paso Canoas because of the closure of the customs office due to the Panamanian holiday.
The problems, according to Gerardo Bolaños, CEO of Customs at the Ministry of Finance, are not caused by the Costa Rican side but in Panama. This is because last Monday was a holiday in the country.
It will connect the cities of La Hachadura and Pedro de Alvarado, an area where 60% of intraregional trade circulates.
From a press release by the Government of Panama:
The binational working table between El Salvador and Guatemala, responsible for Transport and Infrastructure matters, agreed to build a four-lane bridge at the border between Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado, Guatemala, and La Hachadura, El Salvador, with the aim of improving commercial traffic between the two countries.
Traders require the intervention of the governments of both countries to curb the smuggling of weapons, drugs, migrants and goods.
According to Juan Arnoldo Diaz, president of the Association of Mexican Organized Traders, monthly smuggling between the two countries is worth $800 million.
According to the business leader, on the border there are eight legal crossings but there are also another 53 crossings where illegal contraband circulates freely.
Products such as coffee, bananas, tomatoes and cucumbers are illegally entering Panama with authorities being unable to stop them.
It is farmers of these products who are complaining about the situation, claiming that there is unfair competition because the merchandise is being sold on the market at much lower prices than the local products.
Coming from Costa Rica is "everything we sow and cultivate both in Baru as well as Renacimiento, and it is sold without any controls on the Panamanian side," said producer Pedro Rodríguez.
President Santos said the Hague ruling is "not applicable" and has decreed a Comprehensive Contiguous Zone, where they "will exercise complete jurisdiction and control".
A statement from the presidency of Colombia reads:
Colombia presents its Comprehensive Strategy Against Hague Ruling
1. We have decided that the decision is not applicable without a treaty.
They highlight the need to maintain the country's 13 year long status as free of poultry diseases.
The request was made during a meeting held by members of the Poultry Producers Association (Proavih) with presidential candidate Mauricio Villeda who was also introduced to some of the needs of this industry which should be considered in his government.
The map on the internet which offered oil concessions in geographical areas who's sovereignty is disputed has been removed.
For its part, and after an exchange of notes between both governments, Colombia has acknowledged that the concessions given so far by Nicaragua are from areas where
Nicaraguan sovereignty has not been disputed.
"I want to be very clear and emphatic on this: the concessions granted by the government of Nicaragua in July this year are concessions that are west of the 82nd meridian," said Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin.
Central American Business Chambers call for stopping unfair trade in both directions between the two countries.
"We must, as soon as possible, stop the illegal movement of goods from Guatemala to the southern border of Chiapas, in order to be able to aspire to making progress on all our objectives in this new era of trade between Mexico and Central America," said Jose Mejia, president of the Central American Binational Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Investment.