ISDS Case Map
El Salvador
Current state of play with intellectual property law reforms in Central America under the US-DR-CAFTA.
Failure to agree on sugar quotas yesterday prompted Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to delay the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with El Salvador, saying that the two countries must first iron out their differences.
Seven months after the Central American free trade treaty with the United States came into effect, small-scale producers and economists in El Salvador say that it only benefits a few sectors of society, to the detriment of most national production and thousands of jobs.
The Salvadoran Market Vendors Movement held peaceful protests yesterday morning to denounce police confiscation and repression. The work of market vendors were criminalized last December when the right wing in the Legislative Assembly pushed through dozens of reforms to bring El Salvador into compliance with the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs announced Sunday that a second round of free trade agreement (FTA) talks with El Salvador and Honduras was scheduled to kick off the following day in San Francisco.
The Tory government says a free trade agreement with Central America, on ice since 2004, will eventually be debated in the House. One academic doesn't mind the delay, worrying the deal could be bad news for some nations, while industry officials worry Canadian firms may lose interest before the deal is reached.
Once it's done, Canada-Central American Free Trade Agreement will be debated in the House of Commons, Conservative MPs said last week, but there are no guarantees draft agreements will be available to civil society organizations or other third parties.
Taiwan hopes to sign a free trade agreement with El Salvador in October, if negotiations could be completed smoothly, Director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of Central and South American Affairs Ko Jai-son said on Tuesday.
Colombia, fresh from reaching a free trade agreement with the United States, is now trying to eliminate trade barriers with Central America.
The Canadian government is facing demands to disclose a draft free trade agreement with four Central American nations currently in the final stages of deliberation behind closed doors.
The first round of Taiwan's free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with El Salvador and Honduras is expected to take place from Monday to Wednesday in Central America, officials with the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday.
