Successful completion of one
of our projects in Guatemala

From the Multilateral Projects unit we have successfully concluded the management of the contract: “Technical Assistance Services in the field of regional economic integration and trade facilitation”. We started our Technical Assistance in August 2019, formally concluding in August 2022 and allocating these additional months to the administrative and financial closure.

Our activities have been encompassed within the INTEC -Integración Económica Regional Centroamericana- project, which started in 2017. It has been funded mainly by the European Union, with an allocated amount of 22.5 million Euros.

The INTEC project has been aimed at strengthening economic integration in Central America, maximising the benefits of the Association Agreement with Europe and contributing to reduce regional obstacles related to competitiveness and diversification in Central America. All this by facilitating trade and increasing the capacity to trade goods and services.

Our direct counterpart has been the SIECA -Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration- a technical and administrative body that serves as a link for the actions of the other Secretariats of the Economic Subsystem and is responsible for providing support and accompaniment to all the countries of Central America.

Throughout these three years, our technical assistance has carried out a large number of activities, such as: advising and updating of some Central American technical regulations; technical support to facilitate the incorporation of Panama into the Economic Integration Subsystem; design and implementation of a web page as a regional access point for publications on government procurement in each country; creation of a system of impact, process and result indicators; elaboration of proposals for regional mechanisms for the convergence of existing trade agreements; elaboration of proposals and analysis to support countries in the progress of tariff harmonisation; proposal to update the Tax Compatibility Agreement; promotion of consultations with regional private sector actors; analysis of the region’s logistical corridors and possible alternative corridors, etc.

Similarly, several workshops have been held, including 7 of them, one in each Central American country and one regional workshop, with a total of 2,341 virtual attendees. These workshops were focused on providing training for the implementation of international agreements related to labour and the environment, corporate social responsibility, support for promotion and access to EU markets for segments that meet specific environmental and social requirements.

Upon completion of the activities we have been issued with the certificate of good execution and the evaluation of the services provided, carried out for the EU-funded contracts, resulting in a score on compliance and quality of service of 1: excellent.

Below is the video made by the project, and the EU, closing and dissemination of the overall results obtained.