NewsWhore
06-03-2008, 05:20 PM
The Dominican Republic could soon have a free trade agreement in place with South America, now that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has formally invited the Central American Integration System (SICA) to join the South American trading bloc MERCOSUR. Da Silva made his invitation during the II SICA-Brazil Business Forum. The Brazilian President is quoted as saying that "negotiations for a free trade agreement between Central America and MERCOSUR have been a challenge for Brazil and our MERCOSUR partners for some time. We can't depend on a few economies to look for new market niches." According to Lula, trade between Central America and MERCOSUR has jumped 280% in four years, going from US$594 million to US$1.7 million. SICA is made up of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama with the Dominican Republic as an associate member. MERCOSUR members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The prospect of joining MERCOSUR (which will eventually evolve into the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR) would open the DR to a market of 382 million people in South America. The DR already has free trade agreements with Europe, the Caribbean and Central America.
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