Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU's Trade commissar, said she is pleased with the inclusion of Panama in the agreement.
The involved parties hope to sign the Agreement on May 18th, in Madrid, Spain.
"Marco Ruiz, Costa Rica Commerce Minister, said that 'we support the inclusion of Panama, they have been taking part in the meetings. Costa Rica considers that the participation of Panama as very important, as it is one of the strongest economies of the region", reported Univision.com.
The Association Agreement between EU and Central America, including Honduras, would be signed on May 18th, 2010.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Foreign Commissar, expressed the Union's intent of concluding the negotiations and signing the agreement on the planned date.
Authorities from the EU are touring the region, seeking to resume the negotiations between both blocks.
Trade representatives from Costa Rica will meet with EU delegates to resume negotiations.
Bruno Stagno, Foreign Relations minister, and Marco Vinicio Ruiz, Commerce minister, will meet with Europe's foreign relations commissar, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, with the objective of unfreezing the negotiation process, which was paralyzed by the Honduran crisis.
"The European Union will not admit a mandate change for Central America to negotiate without Honduras".
Such were the words of Marco Vinicio Ruiz, Costa Rican Commerce Ministry, "who had insisted on that idea with his homologous in the region", according to PrensaLibre.cr.
EU's decision will stagnate, for a second time, negotiations between the isthmus and the European Union.
The European commission will receive the Honduran Ambassador in order to examine the consequences of the coup d’ état on the negotiations of the agreement.
The commissioner Benito Ferrero-Waldner said that “it is a crucial question” to know if the meeting in July will be still be held…if Honduras withdraws from the table, “the whole process will be paralyzed.”
Following the suspension of round 7 of negotiations, Europe called together an "informal meeting" with Central America to try to overcome the conflict with Nicaragua.
Following the withdrawal of the Nicaraguan delegation, prompted by the rejection by the EU and the other Central American countries of the proposed establishment of a 60 billion Euro fund to fight poverty in this region, the reactions of various sectors were not long in coming, especially from Central American entrepreneurs who demanded the continuation of the talks with or without Nicaragua.
The European Union has announced this aid to help with the integration of the region ahead of the next round of negotiations for reaching an agreement of association.
Prensa.com reports: "With this aid package, the community Executive wants to contribute to the consolidation of the regional institutions in Central America and the participation of the social organizations in the process, the EC indicated in a release."