EEC/Central America agreement: framework agreement for cooperation

Parliament has approved the signature of a framework cooperation agreement between the Community and Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama). This is a third generation agreement that does not contain a financial protocol but provides for evolving economic and commercial cooperation, in other words it does not exclude any field of cooperation. Like the agreement with the Andean Pact, it incorporates the 'democratic clause', economic cooperation that is as wide-ranging as possible (e.g. reinforcement of SMEs, establishment of joint undertakings), extended commercial cooperation aimed at encouraging reciprocal trade and improving market access conditions for goods (coffee, sugar, cotton, bananas), development cooperation in specific areas (social development, public health, culture, tourism and anti-drugs measures). �