The Fernández Government is due to send to Congress today the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) it recently concluded with Central American nations. The treaty setting the framework for the FTA was signed in Santo Domingo last April by the DR and five Central American nations: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Recently concluded and signed is an extremely important Protocol to the treaty which sets out important details to the trade accord, including which products will not be subjected to trade liberalization measures called for by the treaty. So far only the DR, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala have signed the protocol. Last week Dominican officials said that Honduras and Nicaragua had not signed because they needed time to recover economically from the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch. Yesterday Honduran Trade Vice Minister Hernán Erazo told the EFE news service that the hurricane was not the only reason his country did not sign the protocol. Erazo said Honduras did not sign because the DR placed too many important products on the "negative list" exempt from trade liberalization. Honduras, he said, was interested in exporting to the DR tobacco, cigarettes, beer, milk products, chicken and beef, but the DR insisted on putting all these on the negative list. He said that his boss, Commerce and Industry Minister Reginaldo Panting, plans to seek negotiations soon with Dominican officials to make Protocol changes that would allow Honduras to sign. The Fernández Government’s economic team plans a publicity offensive next week to convince public opinion of the desirability of the treaty and the need for Congress to adopt the recently-submitted tariff/tax reform proposals if this treaty is to be put into effect.
