THE NEWS
Mexican and Panamanian negotiators began another round of trade talks Tuesday, this time in an atmosphere of confidence that a free-trade accord will be ready to sign by April.
Meeting behind closed doors in a Panama City hotel, the negotiators begin new talks just days after an intermediate round ended with no final agreement. The two countries have been trying to hammer out an accord since the 1990s.
A series of talks in 2003 ended in frustration. This latest sustained effort began last year.
“In this fifth round we’re hoping to be able to bring our negotiations with Mexico to a close.” said Ricardo Quijano, Panama’s secretary of trade and industry. “We’ll have to see how things develop, but that´s out intention, to get it signed with this round.”
A trade agreement with Mexico is important for Panama’s hopes for joining the Pacific Alliance, a free-trade area shared among Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru, with Costa Rica set to join. It is a prerequisite of membership to have in place bilateral accords with each member country. It has agreements with the other three current members.
Quijano was interviewed by the Mexican news agency Notimex before the first session. No indication was given as to why he is confident of an agreement this time around.
The sticking point, he said, has been exclusions — specific tradable goods exempt from the relaxed tariffs. Quijano hinted that Mexico is not offering the same exclusions that Panama got from Colombia in recently concluded trade talks between those two nations.
“We’re determined to get the same exclusions as with Colombia,” he said.
Other agenda items for this week’s talks, set to conclude Friday, are market access, rules of origin, public contracting, financial services, temporary entry for businesspersons, technical trade obstacles, intellectual property and investment.
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