Mexico said Sunday the fifth round of negotiations for forming a single free trade agreement (FTA) with Central America ended with important progress on various issues.

The most prominent achievements were made on issues such as market access, the ease of the trade and the technical obstacles to trade, the Economic Ministry said in a statement.

There were also important progress on trade mark, trade defense, government purchases and solution of trade differences.

The sixth round of the talks will be held in August in El Salvador, the ministry said.

Mexico already has FTAs with Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the so-called Triangle of the North which includes Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.The current talks was aimed at eastabishing a single FTA area with Mexico and the whole Central America.

Of the 50 billion dollars of Central America’s annual exports, only 8 percent go to Mexico, suggesting that there is great potential for expanding trade relations between the two sides.

May 30^th, 2011

Source: People’s Daily Online, China

• US cites forced labor concerns as grounds for new tariffs
• Aquatic products face challenge of maintaining market share in US
• Viet Nam extends anti-dumping duties on some Thai sugar products to 2031
• Europe has had enough of China’s export surge
• Global rubber prices surge, raising hopes for Vietnamese exporters