Central America Pushes Congress to OK Trade Deal

[arcos]

Central America Pushes Congress to OK Trade Deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Central American states lobbying a reluctant U.S. Congress to endorse a regional free trade agreement say it's rejection would be a rebuff to countries trying to build closer relations with Washington.

Miguel Ernesto Lacayo, El Salvador's minister of the Economy, who is in Washington with other regional ministers to argue for the pact, said rejection would be a step back for countries struggling to overcome poverty and the violence that wracked the region in the 1980s.

In an interview with Reuters, Lacayo, accompanied in Washington by trade ministers from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras, said their mission was "to separate the noise from the truth.

Total trade among the countries now covered by the prospective free trade agreement, or CAFTA, to about $32 billion. The Dominican Republic is also part of the group.

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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=4649672