Managua, 6 jun (EFE).- The minister nicaraguan Development, Industry and Trade (Mific), Jesus Bermudez, reported Monday that Nicaragua and China already have a proposal for a legal framework for negotiating a Treaty of Free Trade agreements (FTAS), which is expected to be signed no later than 2023.
“The goal is that the negotiation of the FTA takes us a year, a year and a half maximum,” the official said, through means of the Government.
The proposal of an initiative of FTA between Nicaragua and China comes just six months after the two nations, the restoration of their diplomatic relations, after the Government of Daniel Ortega to break with Taiwan.
According to the minister, Nicaragua and China are on the verge of signing an economic agreement called the “Agreement Early Harvest”, that would be the prelude of TLC, and that it could enter into force in the next six months.
“In that Agreement Early Harvest is covered approximately 90 % of everything that exportábamos to Taiwan. The treatment that will be given to all those products is 0 % (for a fee) in the people's Republic of China, and there is the flesh, the coffee, everything exportábamos to Taiwan,” said Bermudez.
At the time of the rupture with the island, Taiwan was one of the bilateral donors, most important of Nicaragua, where it funded, in addition, 27 projects in areas of food production, fruit crops and rearing of pigs, high-quality, among others, by value between 30 million and 50 million dollars, according to data from the nicaraguan Government.
In January, Nicaragua and China signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a “mechanism of political consultations”, an “agreement” macro of mutual support, the other on trade cooperation, and one more to hold visas to the bearing diplomatic passports from both countries.
In addition, China will fund a programme of social housing, and will award scholarships to students nicaraguans, in accordance with the official information.
President Ortega restored relations with China after obtaining his fifth re-election and fourth consecutive in the last November, in an election that were not recognized by much of the international community, mainly the united States and the European Union, for the arrest of those who presented themselves as the main players of the opposition.
Nicaragua has free trade agreements with Chile, the united States, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, and an association agreement with the European Union, according to the official records.
