To date the Trade Pillar Committee has not yet been formed with representatives of each of the Central American countries, despite the entry into force of the Association Agreement on January 1st 2014.
Central America has not managed to harmonize and standardize regional interests in order to make use of the Agreement with the European Union. Nearly six months after its entry into force, they have not institutionalized mechanisms to comply with even short term commitments related to regional trade, such as the harmonization of trade regulations, customs administration and trade policy. This failure has consequences.
Congress has until today to approve the amendments to the Industrial Property Act, necessary for the entry into force of the Association Agreement with the EU.
According to Stella Zervoudaki, European ambassador in Guatemala, the adoption of this law requires a 60-day period, plus two for the publication period, so that any interested party can submit their opposition, therefore even if Guatemala ratifies the agreement, scheduled for July 15, the country can not make use of the Association Agreement.
Ministers of the Economy and Foreign Trade from Central America prepared a plan to jointly deal with the impact of the economic recession that will occur in 2009 in the region.
The adopted measures will be used to jointly mitigate the negative effects.
"The coordination instruments will be announced by the presidents at the meeting which will be held on December 5 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras," reported Romulo Caballeros, Guatemalan minister of Economy
The Guatemalan government is seeking to attract investors on its visit to Taiwan by highlighting the competitive advantages of the country.
Macro-economic stability in country which represents 35% of the regional economy, the "privileged" location on the border of the North American Market, and a favorable investment climate were, generally speaking, the reasons that the Minister of the Economy, Romulo Caballeros, presented to convince Taiwanese investors to place their capital in Guatemala.
Banking monetary and authorities in the country have ruled out a direct impact on Guatemala's economy.
Banking executives agree that the economic situation in the country is uncertain; nonetheless, they need to keep a close eye on what is happening in the American financial market.
Yesterday they were invited to the legislative palace of the President of the Bank of Guatemala, Maria Antonieta del Cid de Bonilla; the superintendent of Banks, Edgar Barquin, and the Minister of the Economy, Romulo Caballeros, explained the impact of the crisis in the US on the local market.
A multi-sector alliance was proposed to help deal with the world food crises that is affecting millions of people around the world.
During the third Congress of the Pan-American Association of Latin American Supermarkets (ALAS) that was held in the colonial city of Antigua, some 45 kilometers east of the Guatemalan capital, businessmen made known the "general concern" about the increase in food prices in the international market.
According to Romulo Caballeros, Minister of the Economy, the price of imported goods is one of the topics that concerns the Government.
The official said besides offering products which enter the country with zero duty, they will also take up the task of checking the prices which, he reaffirmed, should stabilize or go down.
If there are no changes, the minister said that they will expand the zero duty to cover imports of chicken, yellow corn, milk, rice and flour.
Rómulo Caballeros, the Guatemalan economy minister, called on the nation's businessmen to keep inflation under control by moderating their profit margins.
Caballeros said that consumers were bearing the brunt of increases in prices that were caused by inefficient production. Businesses that raise their profit margins without doing the same for productivity will further reduce demand, he added.
Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom has appointed Rómulo Alfredo Caballeros as Economy Minister. The post had been vacant for 43 days.
Previously, Caballeros had positions in the Economic Commission for Latin America, and in Guatemala's General Planning Secretariat and the foreign ministry.
His predecessor, José Carlos García Macal, left the post for health reasons.