Taiwan launches trade offensive in Nicaragua

A group of 16 business leaders and two officials of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council make up the mission, which is set to remain in Nicaragua three days. Officials at the Taiwan’s Embassy in Managua said the delegation, which arrived in Nicaragua from Panama on Wednesday, is led by the deputy director general of Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade, Wu Hsin-hua.

A business round was scheduled for later Thursday at a hotel in Managua, where the Nicaraguan Association of Producers and Exporters (APEN) and the export organ NICAEXPORT will show samples of potentially-exportable products.

Beef, coffee, shell-fish, metal scraps, ebony and other tropical woods, wooden decorations, sorghum, corn, wheat, palm oil and soybean oil are among the Nicaraguan products that are of interest to Taiwan.

Wu is set to meet Nicaraguan Industry and Trade Minister Orlando Solorzano and Free Zone Corporation director Alvaro Baltodano.

In 2006, Nicaragua had 8.6 million dollars in exports with Taiwan, 30 per cent more than the previous year, according to the Taiwanese Embassy. In the first half of 2007 Nicaraguan sales to Taiwan generated 6.3 million dollars.

The bilateral balance of trade favours Taiwan, which exported to the Central American country 39 million dollars in 2006, the embassy said.

The Taiwanese delegation is also set to visit El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, who have also signed free-trade agreements with Taipei.

Taiwan is recognized by 24 countries, half of in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Taiwan’s free trade deals with Panama and Guatemala are already in effect and the agreement with Nicaragua is expected to become active later this year. The trade deals with Honduras and El Salvador will come into effect in 2008.

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