The blockade of the Mexican avocado does not end. The Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) reported that Mexico requested the WTO to establish a panel of arbitrators to solve the dispute. Such panel will be established in the next meetings of the Dispute Settlement Body, and from that moment on, a term will be established to decide which members will be part of it.

The dispute began in May 2014, when Costa Rican authorities decided to ban the import of avocado from Mexico, arguing the existence of a disease called sunspots. See trade conflict history. See history of the commercial conflict.

The ex-minister of Comex, Alexander Mora, said to Nacion.com that "... there was always the evidence of an eventual arbitration in this matter because Mexico's position was that the only way out to avoid this procedure would be the full elimination of the measure taken by Costa Rica. The current Mexican government had to leave this matter settled before surrendering its mandate (the new administration assumes this December 1st), therefore it expedited the decision."

Read full article (In Spanish).

Source: Nacion.com

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