Colombia signed on Thursday separate free trade agreements with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, the Colombian presidential office said in a statement.
The presidents of the four nations -- Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador, Manuel Zelaya of Honduras and Oscar Berger of Guatemala -- signed the agreement in Medellin, the capital of Antioquia, 246 km northeast of Bogota.
The agreements will come into force as soon as they are ratified by the nations' legislatures.
Colombian authorities estimate that exports to the three nations will rise from 239 million U.S. dollars a year at present to a billion dollars after the agreements are put into effect. Eduardo Munoz, Colombia's Deputy Foreign Trade Minister, said Colombia's small and medium-sized exporters would benefit most from the free trade agreement. Colombia exports textiles, books, soap, cosmetics, plastic, basic chemicals and metals to the countries. It imports fresh fish and minerals.
Negotiations on the agreements began in June 2006, and ended 10 months later. The deal removes tariffs on services, investment and public purchases between Colombia and the three countries, but does not include sensitive products.
Jorge Bedoya, president of Colombia's National Poultry Farmers Association, said he was disappointed that the poultry sector had not been included in the deal.
Source: Xinhua
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