"Trade preferences currently in place must be the starting point in the negotiation of an Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America. Recognition of the enormous differences that exist between the two regions must preside over the negotiations", states CIFCA (Copenhagen Initiative for Central America and Mexico). We received the following press release about this issue from CIFCA:

Brussels, 22 February 2008

The European Comission must accept that the General System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) should be the starting point for the negotiation of an Association Agreement between the EU and Central America, according to the European civil society networks and NGOs: CIFCA, APRODEV, CIDSE, Grupo Sur, and Oxfam Interational.

“The European Union is proposing that the starting point for the negotiation of the Agreement will be less than the preferences already extended to Central America in relation to the entry of Central American products into the EU market, and this is unacceptable. It is impossible to aspire to a just Association Agreement if the debate begins with a reduction in trade advantages that one of the partners currently enjoys”, says Eric van Mele, spokesperson for Oxfam International.

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