The Guatemalan Congress ratified the protocol of accession of Guatemala to the European Free Trade Association, formed by Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
This trade agreement is a complementary instrument for Guatemalan products such as vegetables, fruits, flowers, ornamental plants, honey, spices, oils, fish and differentiated products to have easier access to Europe.
Starting to sell beef on the Guatemalan market and evaluating the possibility of signing a trade agreement between the two economies are part of the initiatives proposed by the South American country.
During his visit to Guatemala, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo stated that another of the South American country's interests is to participate in the organic coffee business.
Because Guatemala is the only country in the region still negotiating an FTA with the Asian country, sugar producers estimate that they have stopped selling about 400,000 metric tons.
Months ago it was reported that Guatemalan authorities would travel to South Korea in the first week of October, with the aim of restarting the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.
During the recent visit of the Ecuadorian president to Guatemala, the intention to take up again the issue of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, whose negotiation was stalled years ago, was expressed.
As a result of the inauguration of the new Guatemalan government, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno visited the Central American country and took advantage of the occasion to meet with Guatemalan businessmen. In this session he discussed the signing of the Free Trade Agreement.
During the eleven months that will pass between the beginning of the exit process from the European Union and the entry into force of the association agreement with Central America, trade relations with the United Kingdom will follow the same rules that have been in place until now.
In July 2019, the negotiations of the Association Agreement with the United Kingdom were completed, which contains the mechanism to address the preferential trade relations regulated between both parties, after the process of leaving the European Union, known as BREXIT, is completed.
With the recent signing of the U.S.-Canadian-Mexican trade agreement, a precedent was set for future negotiations, as this agreement sets binding labor conditions, such as making exports subject to the payment of a minimum wage.
For example, one of the conditions of the Treaty between Mexico, United States and Canada (T-MEC), which was signed on December 10, 2019, is that vehicles exported from one state of Mexico to the other two countries "must come from plants that pay wages not less than $16 an hour.
The Congress approved the Association Agreement between the United Kingdom and Central America, which aims to protect trade relations between the two economies within the framework of the Brexit process.
In the Ordinary Session held on November 27, Decree 11-2019 was approved, with which the Agreement establishing an Association between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Central America is approved, informed the Congress.
Since Congress has not yet ratified the Association Agreement, the exporters' union warns that they will lose the opportunity to sell to that European market on an equal basis with their Central American neighbors.
As part of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, Central American countries must ratify the Association Agreement so as not to disrupt trade relations with British companies.
Executive authorities and business representatives asked Congress to speed up the ratification of the Association Agreement with the United Kingdom, as the process must be completed by 31 October this year.
Guatemalan authorities announced that in the first week of October they will travel to South Korea, with the aim of restarting negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement between the two economies.
Guatemala is the only Central American country still negotiating the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea, since El Salvador, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica signed it in February 2018.
Authorities from the European country are asking the region to speed up the processes so that the Association Agreement between the United Kingdom and Central America can be ratified before October 31 this year.
Since August 23, Simon McDonald, Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, makes a tour through Central American countries, in which he has requested that the procedures for ratifying the Agreement signed with the region be expedited.
The first round of negotiations will take place in Guatemala from August 26 to 28, during which the lists of products of interest to both nations will be exchanged.
Authorities from the Guatemalan Ministry of Economy (Mineco) informed that the agreement they seek to sign will not be a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), nor a Partial Scope Agreement, but rather a hybrid agreement.
The lack of a competition law in Guatemala could expose the country to sanctions from the European authorities, since it is a requirement demanded in the regulations of the Association Agreement with the European Union.
Since the end of 2016, the Association Agreement (AdA) required Guatemala to have a law on the matter, since in 2019 a Central American competition authority would have to be created. However, it cannot operate, because there is no legal framework.
Guatemalan authorities, the only country in the region that is negotiating the FTA with Korea unilaterally, announced that they will speed up efforts to sign the agreement before the end of the year.
The announcement was made by President Jimmy Morales in the company of the Minister of Economy, Acisclo Valladares Urruela, before the members of the board of directors of the National Coffee Association (Anacafé), which is one of the sectors that is demanding the adhesion of the country to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Central America and South Korea.
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