China and El Salvador begin negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement

Nov. 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Chinese and Salvadoran authorities announced this Wednesday that they have begun negotiations to achieve a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries “as soon as possible.”

The Chinese ambassador to El Salvador, Ou Jianhong, has stated that talks have begun and that “they are working together to conclude (the agreement) as soon as possible.”

“Negotiating and signing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is another significant result of bilateral economic and trade cooperation,” the diplomat assured in statements reported by the Salvadoran newspaper ‘El Mundo’.

This program will serve to “continue exploring the potential and bilateral cooperation in the economic and commercial area, promote sustainable, stable and diversified development in bilateral trade and investment,” he added.

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has confirmed the news through a brief message published on his profile on the social network Twitter in which he indicates that his country will sign the FTA with China, within the framework of the abolition of the same treaty with Taiwan.

“China is the second largest economy in the world and El Salvador had been isolated from that potential for our trade, for our products,” Bukele justified.

In this sense, Bukele has highlighted that the lack of relations with Beijing, “will no longer be like that”, having “had an excellent relationship all this time”.

The signing of the FTA “will open up a range of opportunities”: “We will have to produce everything that is of interest to the Chinese people,” he added.

For his part, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce explained that “since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and El Salvador, the two parties have effectively promoted the deepening of cooperation in various fields of economy and trade, achieving fruitful results.

“In order to further exploit the potential of bilateral economic and trade cooperation,” both countries begin talks “as soon as possible” to complete the process, the ministerial portfolio said in a statement.