Today, 16 April 1998, the Dominican Republic will sign its first free trade agreement, a major concrete step in the direction of regional integration. The agreement will be signed by President Leonel Fernández and the chiefs of state of El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua. Guatemala will be represented by its Minister of Economy. The treaty basically contains the rules for regional economic integration. It is seen as an instrument that can broaden the trade of goods and services and investment within the signatory nations. The agreement will be concluded within six months time when the list of goods and services to be excluded from the tariff exemptions will be presented by the new trade partners. Congress in the individual countries must also ratify the agreement. An impasse over the inclusion of Dominican free zone exports has not been an obstacle to the signing of the agreement. Negotiators said the free zones will be included. President Leonel Fernández will host President José Figueres of Costa Rica; Armando Calderón Sol, El Salvador; Arnoldo Alemán, Nicaragua; and Carlos Roberto Flores from Honduras in Santo Domingo today. The President of Guatemala Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen will be represented by Minister of Economy Juan Mauricio Wurmser as Arzu is on an official trip to Peru. The Central American free trade treaty will be signed in the Salon de Embajadores hall of the National Palace at 7 pm. That same evening, the chiefs of state will attend a reception in their honor at the Salón de las Cariátides of the National Palace. On the next day, the statesmen will travel with President Fernández to Santiago de Chile, on board a Chilean Air Force jet to attend the Summit of the Americas. The free trade agreement with Central America is a first step in the direction of integrating a strategic regional alliance promoted by the Dominican government between Central America and the Caribbean Community (Caricom). The Dominican government expects to sign a similar free trade agreement with Caricom in August of this year resulting in the desired larger trade block. The DR would be the liaison between Central America and the Caribbean, a regional trading block of 60 million consumers that would place the central region of the Americas in a better negotiating position before the United States, the European Union and the World Trade Organization. The Dominican negotiating team was made up by Eduardo Latorre, Luis Manuel Bonetti, Frederic Emam Zade, Federico Cuello, Gregorio Lora, Gabriel Castro, Luisa Fernández, Miguel Angel Heredia Bonetti and Arturo Pellerano. Central America was represented by Eduardo Ayala Grimaldi, Carlos Murillo, Azucena Castillo, Guillermo Castillo, Hernan Erazo, Eduardo Zablah, Jose Leon Desanti, Reginaldo Panting and Noel Sacadsa. The chief Dominican negotiators were Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations Frederic Emam Zade, assisted by Federico Cuello, Deputy Technical Minister of the Presidency. Guatemala is the most populated nation of the treaty signatories, with 11.2 consumers. Dominican Republic follows with 8.2 million, El Salvador with 5.8 million, Honduras with 5.6 million Nicaragua with 4.3 million and Costa Rica with 3.4 million.
