The signed association agreement “guarantees Central American countries that with the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, there will be no legal vacuum and trade relations with that country will be interrupted and tariff preferences will be maintained, with all legal guarantees for Central American exporters to the United Kingdom.”
The government of Guatemala informed that Julio Dougherty, Vice-Minister of Integration and Foreign Trade, together with the Ministers of Economy and Foreign Trade of Central America and the United Kingdom Ambassador in Costa Rica, Ross Denny, signed in Managua the document that establishes the Association Agreement that constitutes the mechanism to attend the preferential commercial relations regulated with the United Kingdom through the Association Agreement between Central America (CA) and the European Union (AACUE), on the occasion of BREXIT.
The statement adds that “… The signing of the Agreement ensures the continuity of commercial relations between the two countries, facing the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union and incorporates the changes that will differentiate the current Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union. With the signing of the Agreement, Central American countries are guaranteed that with the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, there will be no legal vacuum and trade relations with that country will be interrupted and tariff preferences will be maintained, with all the legal guarantees for Central American exporters to the United Kingdom.”
On the other hand, the Costa Rican government explained that “… The Minister for Foreign Trade (COMEX), Dyala Jiménez Figueres, expressed her satisfaction with the agreement reached with the United Kingdom and stressed the importance of this market: ‘With this agreement we are taking a fundamental step forward in defending our foreign trade operators and the employment opportunities that commercial activity generally offers to Costa Ricans, as the United Kingdom is a strategic and important market for our products on the European continent. Now it is up to us to work hard with the Legislative Assembly to get an early approval of the agreement that will give exporters the certainty that the UK’s exit from the European Union will not disrupt our sales to the UK market.”
The document states that “… COMEX has been working intensely with its counterparts in the United Kingdom and Central America to adapt the text of the AACUE, so that it will apply after the BREXIT to trade and investment relations between the countries of Central America and the United Kingdom. These tasks have involved close coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, given that, as in the case of the AACUE, the text comprises three thematic areas: trade, political dialogue and cooperation.”