Juni 2008: Nieuwsflits Regio
From Handelswijzer Midden-Amerika
Central America lobbies for Indian Foreign Direct Investment
Top government representatives from the eight-member Central American Integration System (SICA), visited India, looking for investments, especially in the area of farming technology, information technology, outsourcing and research and development. The eight-member SICA includes Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Honduras reported that they did not compete with each other but complemented the other and would like to see a greater Indian presence in the region. Republic of Panama pointed out that the Colon free trade zone could be an opportunity to set up Indian businesses for exporting to other countries in Central America and also to the US. El Salvador promoted products like textiles. Indian textile products encounter high import duties in the US and a feasible alternative could be could be moving textile production to El Salvador and export duty free to the US. The SICA countries expressed that they are eager to learn from India’s success story in agriculture and pharmaceuticals. The Indian foreign affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee offered India’s expertise in various sectors including agriculture and small and medium enterprises. He also agreed to set up a joint technical group to enhance co-operation in the area of food security and other areas of interest to the countries. It was agreed to double the India-SICA bilateral trade from $537 million during the next three years. India had already offered an 80 million dollar loan for the SICA countries and requested to send concrete financing proposals for infrastructure development and capacity building. India also proposed to set up IT centres in Belize, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic. India has already established IT centres in Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Furthermore, India signed new visa agreements with Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador including the cancelation of the need for visas for diplomats and other government officials.
Mexico seeks combined FTA with Central American countries
Mexico has begun negotiations with several Central American countries to merge its three individual Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with them into a single one, according to Mexican Economy Minister Eduardo Sojo. Mexico will promote regional integration with Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, facilitating trade by harmonizing rules and procedures, and also reducing operation costs. Mexico signed FTAs with Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the Northern Triangle nations (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) in 1995, 1998 and 2001 respectively. The proposed comprehensive FTA seeks to include Belize, Panama and the Dominican Republic too.
Latin America's GDP per capita
Venezuela replaces Chile as the country with Latin America's highest GDP per capita according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Venezuela's GDP per capita is estimated to reach $11,933 this year. Venezuela isn't the only country advancing on Latin America's GDP and GDP per capita rankings. Panama is expected to replace El Salvador as the region's 13th-largest economy, while Honduras will likely replace Paraguay as the 16th-largest economy. Panama's GDP will likely reach $22.9 billion this year, passing that of El Salvador at $21.8 billion. And Honduras is set to reach a GDP of $13.8 billion; Panama and Honduras are expected to keep their new rankings the next five years. However, despite Panama's improvement on the GDP ranking, it will fall one spot on the GDP per capita ranking this year. Costa Rica is set to replace Panama on the 7th spot, thanks to an estimated GDP per capita this year of $6,990 versus $6,717 for Panama. Dominican Republic moves down one spot (10th place with an estimated GDP per capita of $4,235). The Dominican Republic remains the largest economy within the CAFTA trade group, while Costa Rica remains the pact's leader when it comes to GDP per capita and Nicaragua remains Latin America's second poorest nation ranked by both GDP size and GDP per capita. Latin America's GDP is set to reach $4.1 trillion this year, the IMF estimates. That's twice as much as that of Central- and Eastern Europe, 135 percent higher than that of the Middle East and three times as high as that of Africa.
