The Latin America-China Business Summit was held on November 26th and 27th in Costa Rica with more than 1,200 employers in regions with growing commercial exchanges.
Chinese and Latin American entrepreneurs gathered for two days for business meetings, contributing to increased trade in Latin America with the Asian country, which is already a commercial destination of prime importance for this region.
Cheese Producers in Costa Rica and El Salvador opposed the registration of the Italian brands Provolone Valpadana , Fontina, Gorgonzola and Parmigiano Reggiano.
The Association Agreement with the European Union (AA) will not come into force on August 1 for Costa Rica and El Salvador, but on October 1, as long there is a resolution to the conflict caused by Costa Rican and Salvadoran dairy producers who expressed their opposition to the registration of geographical origin of Italian cheeses.
On 26th and 27th of November 500 Chinese businessmen will take part in business meetings with 300 representatives from Latin American companies seeking to generate new business.
According to Anabel Gonzalez, Minister of Foreign Trade, they expect the involvement of 300 employers in the region and they have been organizing business meetings for the summit in the form of plenary sessions, parallel meetings and roundtable discussions at high-level .
The Costa Rican Congress has finally approved the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union, which will take effect on August 1.
From a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (COMEX):
The Legislature has approved on its second reading the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union (CAAA), which seeks to boost trade relations between Central America and the old continent, by improving the business climate, creating new opportunities for trade, investment and employment and strengthening institutions in the region.
Starting from July 1 the trade agreement with Mexico, a country with which trade reaches $10 billion per year, came into effect.
The agreement "strengthens the recognition of an extended economic zone where Central America can put more products under a single origin and continue complementing each other in the production of goods and services for export to Mexico," said Anabel Gonzalez, Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister.
Finally the geopolitical reality has been imposed and the Canal country has been formally integrated into the community of Central America nations.
It was "a great achievement" and one "longed for for many years by all Central American countries", this was Panama's accession to SIECA, an organ of the Central American Integration System (SICA), said Anabel Gonzalez, Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister.
Costa Rican exporters view positively the inclusion of new products to the FTA with Mexico, with the possibility of establishing regional production chains.
Some of the products that will be incorporated into the trade agreement are sugar, iron and steel sheets, gelatin powder, cigarettes, chicken sausages, jellies and fruit pastes. In addition, also agreed was trade in raw materials such as yogurt and powdered sour cream and hydrolyzed vegetable protein.
Costa Rica will host the sixth China - Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Business Summit, to be held in October 2013.
The summit organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) seeks to strengthen trade relations between the two regions.
"The Ministry of Foreign Trade said in a statement that the summit "’is the business forum with the greatest amount of trade and investment between Latin America and the Asian giant and attracts high-level representatives from government, business and the academic sector’ ", reported Prensalibre.com.
Panama's accession will be formalized in late June and will accelerate the elimination of tariffs and facilitate regional trade.
In Costa Rica and other Central American countries there are expectations over Panama's accession to the Central American Economic Integration Secretariat, which will be signed in Tegucigalpa on June 29, and the regional benefits it will bring.
Access for sugar and the rules of origin for textile goods are delaying the negotiations for unification of the FTAs between Mexico and the region.
Before the 17th of October, the planned date for signing the agreement, negotiations in these areas must be concluded.
The Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Commerce (Comex), Anabel Gonzalez said ... that the general framework of rules or the convergence of three FTA’s between the isthmus and Mexico is finalised, except for ... very specific issues regarding the three products.
Authorities have signed a work plan for the second half of the year, which will focus on trade.
The incorporation of Panama into the Central American economic integration subsystem and the regional private sector’s improvement in competitiveness were some of the topics discussed at the Ministers of Economic Integration meeting, held recently in Guatemala.
The trade Minister of Costa Rica said that the "better governance process" in SIECA, initiated by Yolanda Mayora, had "raised antibodies" at the regional institution.
There is no doubt that the economic future of Central America and the possibilities of development of its people are linked to regional integration, starting with all which refers to the free exchange of goods and services and the ability to be presented to the world as a single block.
The Government filed a motion to rescind the appointment of Ernesto Torres Chico as head of SIECA.
"What we're asking for is the application of due process, transparency and respect for institutions, so not to impose a Secretary General in violation of the procedures and mechanisms established in the Central American instruments" said Minister of Foreign Trade, Anabel González.
Having adversely affected the interests of regional bureaucracies through the process of speeding up the integration procedures could have triggered the replacement of Yolanda Mayora.
Business associations and interested groups in the economic integration of Central America are reacting against Mayora´s dismissal, who had energized the regional economic integration process.
This first unification of regulations will benefit the export sector of food and medicine industry.
The signing of the agreement to unify technical regulations will be held next Monday and will then be submitted for review to the countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"The unification of rules prevents companies ... to have the need to arrange export permits for each country in the region," reports the article in Nacion.com.