Although Juan Orlando Hernández has now been declared as the winner of the elections and blockades and demonstrations have decreased, difficulties in transporting merchandise to and from Puerto Cortés, as well as land borders, remain.
As a result of the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs when transporting goods to and from Honduras, companies in neighboring countries are looking for alternatives to expedite shipments, especially those of perishable products.
From August 8 premium handmade tobacco leaf cigars will be subject to the same regulation as cigarettes manufactured with additives.
A group of tobacco companies in Nicaragua will be holding meetings in the US with local companies who have invested in tobacco plantations and cigar factories in order to assess the impact of the entry into force of the new regulation.
Reports in Nicaragua indicate that only five companies managed to obtain the certificate which will be needed from July 1st to export by sea.
The Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP warned that a week before the rule takes effect, only five exporting companies have carried out the procedures needed to certify the weight of marine cargo when the rule goes into effect.
Nicaraguan businessmen have proposed that Central America as a whole operates a preferential tariff treatment in the US for imports of textiles in the region.
After trying to negotiate, through several formats, tariff preference levels (TPL), so far unsuccessfully, textile entrepreneurs are now appealing to the union of the region to address the issue with the US once again.
For the private sector work stoppages at the ports of Limon in Costa Rica, have reaffirmed the urgent need for the country to build a port terminal in the Caribbean.
Costa Rican ports move the majority of cargo from international trade from Nicaragua, therefore abnormalities in the terminal operations affect the transit of Nicaraguan goods, because of the lack of a port on the Caribbean coast.
The European Union will not mediate in the distribution between the Central American countries of the sugar quota of 60,000 tonnes allocated to the region.
"The European Union will only check the total regional quota has been reached and will not intervene in how it is distributed among the five Central American countries. The distribution and quota management is an internal matter for the Central American region," said Klara Klanska, commercial counselor of the EU to Central America.
On 25 and 26 July 150 regional suppliers to the food sector will present their products to more than 50 buyers from North America, Europe and Asia.
From a statement by the Inter-American Development Bank:
LAC Flavors 2013: a Business Conference, to be held in Granada, Nicaragua, on the 25th and 26th July 2013, is being organized by the Official Agency for Investment Promotion and Export (PRONicaragua), the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) of Nicaragua and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) via the Trade and Investment Unit (TIU) of the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) and the Department of Central America (CID) Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic, through its Mesoamerica Project.
The Central Council of Transport has announced a three-day strike in protest against El Salvador levying a tax on freight carriers of between $35 and $250.
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "the measure will affect all regional trade, because the rest of the international freight carriers from the isthmus will join the strike 'in solidarity' in order to send a message to other governments who have created new taxes on trade merchandise ... ".
Preparations are being made for a single form that will streamline customs trade ahead of the entry into force of the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union.
According to the president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep), Joseph Adam Aguerri, already working on this issue are the Central American Integration System (SICA), and the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIEC).
Instead of being reduced, bureaucracy at the Central American borders is becoming increasingly burdensome, complicating and making intra regional trade more expensive.
Constant delays which increase transportation costs, lack of progress in the streamlining of customs procedures and a perceived stagnation of the customs and economic integration project are the most pressing problems observed by business associations in Central America.
The Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union is “historical”, stated José Adán Aguerri, president of COSEP, the Superior Council of the Private Enterprise.
According to him, Nicaragua gets many benefits from the agreement, including assuring some key beneficial tariff conditions when exporting to Europe, which include zero tariffs for all its agricultural goods and 99% of the country’s industrial production.
COSEP asked the government of Nicaragua to return to the talks for the association agreement with Europe, which they asked to be more flexible in negotiations.
The chairman of the Higher Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), José Adán Aguirre, said that Nicaragua should be in the negotiations, that is why he urged the government to participate in the meeting to be held in Brussels next April 23 and 24.