The Dominican government said yesterday that the failure of Central American nations to present a unified list of products that would be exempt from duty free treatment has brought about an impasse in the completion of Dominican-Central American free trade negotiations. The Presidents of Central America in April of this year signed a free trade agreement with the President of the Dominican Republic. Now, the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Costa Rica is proposing a change in what the Presidents then agreed upon. As a result, the Dominican delegation that had traveled to Guatemala City from 12-13 and 14 August chose to discontinue talks and return to the DR for consultations. Freddy Emam-Zadé, chief negotiator, maintains that the position of the DR is that it will only negotiate with a block of nations and not bilaterally. "The Dominican Republic found itself before five countries that among themselves couldn’t agree on the products that would be part of the list," said Carlos Despradel, spokesman for the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic and a member of the negotiating committee in a press conference. Minister of Industry and Commerce Luis Manuel Bonetti concurred that Costa Rica proposed that each country present its own negative list and negotiate individually with the DR. The position is held by Anabelle González, deputy minister of foreign affairs of Costa Rica and a member of the gabinet of the new government. She is a newcomer to the negotiations as she had not participated in the previous rounds held to structure the free trade agreement. Her participation has broken the harmony in negotiations that existed among the DR, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. Minister Bonetti said that the negotiating teams agreed to meet again in 30 days. The round will be held in Santo Domingo during which a final agreement is expected to be reached.
