The main issue of concern is the slow pace of intraregional trade, which in particularly is hindered by customs offices in the isthmus.
The quarterly meeting of the executive directors and presidents of the Federation of Chambers and Industry Associations of Central America (Fecaica) showed the concern of the sector over measures such as the charging at offices in El Salvador of an $18 fee for the service of scanning the cargo passing through.
Within the framework of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the Asian country requires preferential rules of origin to use raw materials from China.
Central American textile businesses are worried that Vietnam receives more flexible terms than those of the FTA with the isthmus, a situation which they said could cause the loss of 200,000 jobs.
Javier Siman, president of the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists, said "a competitive edge will be given to Vietnam because of the fact that there are no other countries that it does business with (under NAFTA) than the United States," and that the problem is that in Vietnam the state owns the largest export companies, which receive more than 46 subsidies and export incentives, which will "allow them to compete unfairly with us."
"What makes a country prosperous is not its resources but how productive it is. A country is not rich because of what it has but because of what it does with it " - Javier Simán.
An analysis by Claudio M. de Rosa in an article in Laprensagráfica.com, refers to the economical situation and the political circumstances in El Salvador, but most of the concepts and findings can be extrapolated to the entire Central American region.
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