Several years after conversations began, Central America and South Korea finally started the formal negotiations for a free trade agreement.
From a statement issued by the Government of Guatemala:
In Houston, Texas, the Minister of Economy of Guatemala, Sergio de la Torre, and his Central American counterparts in charge of foreign trade, met with Korean Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-Jick, to start negotiating the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Korea and the Central American republics.
The government of Daniel Ortega has announced that it expects to begin negotiating a free trade agreement with the South American country.
Peru is moving closer to Nicaragua , and has agreed to initiate a process of strengthening trade, as a first step towards signing a Free Trade Agreement.
As stated ion Elnuevodiario.com.ni Daniel Ortega has affirmed that "...
Through the SICA countries in the region are assessing the possibility of negotiating a free trade agreement with the Asian nation.
The announcement was made by Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, during the II Business Forum between the region and Japan, which included the participation of companies and government representatives from both countries.
The "fast track" granted to the trade agreements currently being negotiated by the USA, increase the urgency of Central America raising productivity and competitiveness of their businesses, particularly against Asian countries.
From now on, the US government will be accelerating adoption of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), which would affect exports from Central American countries as they compete directly with the products sold by Asian nations.
The South Korean government has proposed to Central American countries that they resume negotiations to sign a free trade agreement.
During a meeting between officials of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica and the deputy minister, Moon Jaedo, of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (Motie) of South Korea, it was requested "... that the Central American countries evaluate opening up a process of negotiation for a free trade agreement. "
It has been reported that the Spanish firm Banco Popular has abandoned the negotiations for the purchase of Citigroup's consumer banking unit in the region.
Reports published by Bloomberg.com indicate that a purchase of consumer banking operations in the region would not be aligned to the strategic plan of the Spanish Banco Popular SA, who for weeks had been holding negotiations with Citigroup.
The "negotiators" for the Government of Costa Rica have suggested "as a starting point" a proposal to increase the salaries of state workers which was met with "satisfaction" by the public employee unions.
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The Superior Council of Private Enterprise does not agree with the 10% wage increase being applied retroactively from March 1.
The minimum wage announced by the Government establishes, in addition to an average 10% increase, its retroactive application. If the retroactivity is maintained, the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) will file an appeal.
The Ministry of Labor will define the wage adjustment in the absence of an agreement between the private sector and trade unions.
In the last meeting on 13 March the parties were not able to reach an agreement. The private company proposed an increase of 9%, while unions demanded an adjustment of between 10% and 14%.
Freddy Blandon, representative of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise, Cosep noted that "...
Art form or not, in China alcohol is key to doing business despite the government recently having it forbidden in official meetings.
"Anyone who does not understand the culture here does not win at the table," says the communicator Xiu Weiliang, who has risen to fame after launching his course entitled 'The art of drinking', which thousands have already signed up to.
The willingness to stop exports of red beans between mid-2010 and September 2011, resulted in Nicaragua earning bad reputation as a trading partner.
According to Enrique Zamora, president of the Association of Producers and Exporters of Nicaragua (APEN), in 2010, "the government was warned that what it was doing was wrong", mainly because of the cost invested in turning it (the beans) from a subsistence product in 1996 into a product which generated $80 million in exports.
On 12 and 13 October, a trade mission comprised of thirty French companies will hold meetings with their regional counterparts.
Organized by the Central American - French Chamber of Commerce (CFCCI) the meeting seeks closer ties between the two countries, both in trade and investment.
Jérémie De Contes, the executive director of the CFCCI, said the sectors of energy, agriculture, tourism and telecommunications have great potential in future negotiations.
The third round of negotiations for EFTA ended on Friday August 24th having made significant progress.
A press release from the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign reads:
This Friday, in Costa Rica, saw the conclusion of the third round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement between Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA acronym) comprising Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.
From 21st to 22nd May the Latin American Conference on Business Continuity and Information Security will take place in Costa Rica.
National and international experts will analyze and discuss the key pieces to improving the business continuity program, technologies and data integrity in businesses. This will take place during the Second Latin American Conference on Business Continuity and Information Security to be held in Costa Rica on 21st and 22nd May at the Hotel Radisson Europa.
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