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.

From a press release by the Ministry of Economy of Guatemala:

In a video conference, the Deputy Minister of Economy of Guatemala responsible for Integration and External Trade, María Luisa Flores and her staff, met with their counterparts in Costa Rica, Fernando Ocampo, Honduras, Melvin Redondo, Nicaragua, Jesús Bermúdez, and Panama, Diana Salazar and asked the Deputy Minister of El Salvador, Mario Roger, to review the provision implemented at Salvadoran customs offices with a view to suspending it. The measure implemented hinders regional trade. The meeting was attended by the Intendent of Guatemalan Customs Offices, Claudia Mendez.

The Guatemalan Vice Minister, Maria Luisa Flores, said that "the Central American deputy ministers have met in order to find a satisfactory solution to the region's problems created after the Salvadoran authorities implemented a payment of $18 for the service of nonintrusive inspection, on imports, exports and transits through its borders."

More on this topic

Strike By Truckers Continues at Salvadoran Borders

January 2014

Only cargo destined for El Salvador should be charged with the $18 fee for the inspection with scanner, request freight carriers.

According to the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), this fee violates conventions and trade agreements in the region. In addition, they believe that the inspections and the time it takes to submit all shipments to the procedures are excessive.

Strike By Truckers At El Salvador Borders

January 2014

The regional union of freight carriers is protesting about the fee for inspections using scanners at Salvadoran customs offices and the delays it has generated.

The Central American Freight Council declared a protest strike at Salvadoran borders over the payment of $18 for the inspection of cargo travelling overland.

Blockade in Paso Canoas Lifted

August 2013

Costa Rican truckers have lifted the blockade which they were holding at Paso Canoas confident that the Panamanian authorities will comply with the agreements signed.

The truckers decided to end the five-day strike held in Paso Canoas and are hoping that the Costa Rican government will not permit them to suffer any more abuses by the State Border Service (SENAFRONT).

Chancellors Agreement Does Not Lift Blockade in Paso Canoas

August 2013

An agreement signed between the foreign ministries of Costa Rica and Panama was not enough for the Costa Rican truckers to lift the blockade in Paso Canoas, which has gone on for five days.

Juan Carlos Segura, a spokesman for the carriers, said that the 300 trucks at the border will remain in place because the compromise agreed by the ministers is a joke and does not address the abuses of the State Border Service of Panama (SENAFRONT).