A new information platform aims to identify the main disadvantages faced by companies that transport goods through the region in customs and paperwork management.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
The Central American Economic Integration Secretariat (Sieca) presented the Trade Incidences Platform, which will compile information on the disadvantages that companies have in the areas of customs, transport, sanitary procedures, phytosanitary, import or export.
The new digital platform will be used by economic agents, who will be able to inform the Consultative Committee on Economic Integration (CCIE) when they register at https://www.incidenciascomercio.sieca.int/.
Melvin Redondo, General Secretary of Sieca said to Dca.gob.gt that "... With this platform we intend to collect information on different problems registered in the transit of goods in the region, which will allow the CCIE to establish a dialogue with the authorities of each country to solve these problems and expedite trade.”
On the other hand, Fanny D. Estrada, director of the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport), indicated that "... for the businessmen this launch is like listening to music because the problems in the Central American borders exist for decades and therefore the fact that today we have this platform will facilitate the approach of these inconveniences. An improvement in the mobility of products, i.e. exceeding the 14 kilometers travelled by a lorry per hour, will lower the costs for goods.”
According to data estimated by the United Nations and validated by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the costs incurred by companies in transporting cargo in Central America currently exceed the costs assumed in some developed markets by up to 40%.
Unless intra-regional trade in chemical contents and residues, micronutrients and food preparations is regulated in a balanced manner, trade relations in Central America could face obstacles in the future.
Trade between Central American countries is essential, since a considerable proportion of foreign sales by local companies are destined for other markets in the region.
Because Costa Rica has imposed several restrictions on the movement of goods entering its territory, the Guatemalan government announced that it will apply reciprocal measures to Costa Rican transporters from June 9.
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.
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