Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina said this Friday (12) that his country will negotiate a free trade agreement with China after establishing diplomatic relations with the country in late March and breaking with Taiwan.
“Soon, we will begin a negotiation process for a free trade agreement with China, which will be good news and an opportunity for our products to access that market under better conditions,” said Reina at a press conference.
The establishment of relations with China opens up “a range of possibilities” in the areas of trade, infrastructure, finance, energy, technology, science, education and culture, among others, justified the minister.
Shrimp, bananas, melons, cigars and beef will be products that Honduras will export to China in the coming days, said Reina, who announced that coffee will be the first product that the country will send to the Asian trading partner.
“China has already authorized the entry of coffee, it is just a matter of making trade contacts”, emphasized the Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs, noting that a mission of producers and exporters of coffee and other products will travel to China in the coming days to in order to establish business contacts.
Honduras and China announced the establishment of diplomatic relations on March 26, hours after the Central American country officially severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said at the time that Honduras had caved in to Chinese economic pressure.
“The government of [Xiomara] Castro also asked us for billions of dollars in huge economic assistance and compared the amounts of assistance programs provided by Taiwan and China,” Wu alleged.
For years, Honduras and Taiwan had a military, educational and economic cooperation relationship, and the latter financed technical and agricultural aid projects, also hosting hundreds of Honduran scholarship holders in its universities.
The rupture of relations between Honduras and Taiwan reduced to 13 the number of countries with which Taipei maintains official diplomatic relations, and makes the Central American nation the ninth – and the fifth Latin American – since 2016 to cut ties with the island to establish them ties with China.
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