Costa Rica / Guatemala, June 28 (ACAN-EFE) .- Guatemala expects El Salvador and Honduras to join the customs union that the country launched last Monday with Honduras, Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raúl Morales said today.
At the end of the first phase of the LXX Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Central America, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, in preparation for the summit of heads of State and Government tomorrow, Morales said that several Agendas that must be ratified by the leaders.
The head of diplomacy said that his country’s expectations are that El Salvador and Nicaragua join the customs union because Guatemala «wants to continue to impact in favor of integration.»
Tomorrow, he said, the presidents will approve all the programs that have been agreed by the chancellors of the Central American Integration System (SICA).
He added that the foreign ministers have addressed a number of issues at the meeting, including the customs union set up last Monday between Guatemala and Honduras, the first on the American continent.
It also approved a guide for the management of international cooperation to be homogeneous and the adoption of a regional strategy for the production of micro, small and medium enterprises.
In addition, the attack on organized crime and territorial rural development in Central America was evaluated, he said.
Morales commented that an important topic of the meeting is the election of the new secretary of the SICA and the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (Sieca), as well as eight regional integration agencies.
The Chancellor said that another important point analyzed in the meeting is the fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (ODS), known as the Agenda 2030, given the vulnerability of Central America.
«Central America is one of the most vulnerable regions and natural disasters and climate change are a priority. Poverty levels have to be reduced, which is why we agreed on the ODS, which are fundamental. «