When the Free Trade Agreement was signed in 2003 sales to the Asian island by Panama totaled $11.7 million, whereas in 2010 they reached $44.8 million.
Panamaamerica.com.pa reports that "the Council for the Development of Trade with Taiwan (TAITRA) states that Panama is one of the countries which has received the most benefit out of those which have free trade agreement (FTA) with them".
The Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said that approving the trade agreement between the two countries will increase bilateral trade volume.
"We hope that very soon the Congress of Guatemala will ratify it, as this will trigger trade relations to continue to grow more and more," said Peña Nieto, who during his speech at the Guatemala Investment Summit, said that in the last 12 years bilateral trade has quadrupled.
Costa Rica will be able to import 204 Mexican products under better conditions when the new version of the FTA between Mexico and Central America comes into effect.
From the study "Identification of inputs required by Costa Rican Exporters importable from Mexico" by the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer):
A total of 204 subheadings, can be viewed as potential opportunities for exporting companies in our country who will find better conditions regarding these inputs in Mexico.
The modifications to the original trade agreement will boost by up to $40 million growth in exports from the Dominican Republic to Panama.
According to the Executive Secretary of the National Trade Negotiations Committee (CNNC), Luis Omar Fernandez this will allow the Dominican Republic, to increase by 60% its exports in the next few years, by an amount estimated at $40 million, as in 2012 they reached an estimated value of $25 million, with the most important products being steel and iron, plastics, pharmaceuticals, coffee and other industrial goods and foodstuffs.
With the signing of the trade agreement between the two nations, Costa Rica completes the requirements for entry as a full member of the Alliance also made up of Chile, Peru and Mexico.
"The agreement will be signed and Colombia's request for them to join the alliance is what will allow Costa Rica's entry ", said the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos.
Since the entry into force in 2006 of the DR-CAFTA, the tip in favor of the U.S. in the trade balance has multiplied by 5.
"The Central America to which President Barack Obama is coming to visit on on Friday is a region that maintains multiple communication vessels with the United States, including a growing trade relationship which in 2012 amounted to $40 billion, although very much in favor of the American power," reported Prensa.com.
Increasing trade between Peru and Nicaragua is one of the objectives proposed by the embassy in the Central American nation. The expectation is to exceed the figures of 2012 and find alternatives for shipping products.
The newspaper La Prensa cites Carlos Posada, vice minister of foreign trade of Peru who informed the media in his country of the start of talks to strengthen the exchange of goods.
The Inter-American Development Bank has launched a new version of the Intrade website with information on tariffs and trade agreements for companies and countries seeking new markets for their exports.
A statement from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reads:
IDB launches new version of Intrade, the most complete business information system in the region.
Costa Rican industrialists fear a trade agreement with Colombia will be detrimental to the local industry which is not competitive enough.
In light of an announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Trade to explore the possibility of an FTA with Colombia in 2012, Costa Rican business chambers are opposed to the move and warned against what they believe would be negative consequences of such an agreement for the local industry.
For the first quarter of the year, public and private sectors expect to finalize negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with Peru.
The most difficult part of negotiations has been related to industry, specifically the textile sector, which has shown the most resistance to the signing of the treaty.
Giovanni Berti, export director of the Agency for Promotion of Exports and Investments of El Salvador (PROESA) told Laprensagrafica.com that, "negotiations between the two countries are already advanced to about 95%.
The Ministry of Economy has called upon the private business sector in order to decide whether the country should finalise FTA negotiations with Canada.
Negotiations for this agreement, which have been going on for ten years, started with the participation of countries in the CA-4 (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua) and to date only Honduras has signed.
Nicaragua's exports to Mexico between 1998 and 2010 grew by 400%, but are characterized by very low diversification.
Thirteen years after the signing of the FTA between both countries, Nicaraguan exports have grown by about 400%, but are based on only a few products.
Of all the products that the country sells under the treaty, 96% are from a list of only 13 products which include shrimp, crawfish, rum, sesame, coffee and meat offal.
A Partial Trade Agreement, comprising 75 products, comes into effect this week.
This agreement is meant to be the prelude for a Free Trade Agreement between both countries.
"It was signed in 2006, and will ease tariffs on products such as oils, iron, wood, livestock, tropical fruits and fisheries", stated César Leon, from the Foreign Relations Ministry of Guatemala, in a Prensalibre.com article.
Authorities announced their intent of negotiating FTAs with Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
These potential new Free Trade Agreements are good news for the Association of Panamanian Exporters. Their president, Máximo Gallardo, argues that this could be their way of entering the European market.
He said that "...this would be a good opportunity for Panama, who missed out on the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union", reports Prensa.com.