77.6% of Nicaraguans approve of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) deal between the People’s Republic of China and Nicaragua, as indicated in the most recent survey by the polling firm M&R Consultores.
In the public opinion poll, 84% of Nicaraguans also approved the opening of diplomatic, economic and commercial relations between the Latin American nation and the Asian giant. In this sense, 78.4% of those surveyed reported having high expectations about the FTA.
Likewise, the quantitative analyzes of the survey reflected the perception of citizens about the quality of products manufactured in the Asian nation, where 77.4% considered them to be of good quality.
FTA between China and Nicaragua
After the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between both nations, carried out at the end of August 2023, it will come into force as of January 1, 2024, marking a historical milestone in Nicaragua’s commercial transactions.
The person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce of the Asian country, Wang Wentao, detailed that around 60% of the tariff lines will be eliminated immediately after the entry into force of the FTA. The China-Nicaragua FTA is an important initiative to implement the consensus of the leaders of both countries; «which constitutes an important event in the history of commercial economic relations.”
Likewise, the head of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Finance, Ivan Acosta, explained that there are «great expectations and great possibilities that the Free Trade Agreement will have a deep impact on the development of the country.”
Trade between China and Nicaragua expands
The representative of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce, Jesus Bermudez, reported that 91.4% of Nicaragua’s exports worldwide will now enjoy tariff preferences (0% tariff), for access to the Chinese market; with 71% of these products being immediately accessible.
In addition, it is specific that, among the products included in the immediate access basket, with 0% tariffs, there are textiles, automobile harnesses, beef and bovine offal, and fishery products, such as fish, shrimp, lobster and sea cucumber, as well as peanuts, rum, beer, vaccines, processed meat products, chocolates, jellies, fruit paste products, fruit juices, salt, leather, candles, charcoal, hammocks, wood, paper and cardboard, among others.
New trade agreements in the face of US sanctions
Bermudez, also in an interview with the Russia Today news network, expressed that “Russia and China are the great drivers at the moment, to strengthen the other fronts that have been developing, including here in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as Celac.”
Bermudez explained that one of the fundamental reasons why Nicaragua concluded the Free Trade Agreement with China is because 54% of all its exports currently go to the United States. Therefore, the Central American nation must seek new markets, with reliable, supportive allies that provide cooperation without conditions.
The head of Development, Industry and Commerce specified the importance of the emergence of new economic blocks, in the midst of a wave of sanctions imposed by powers in decline, which feel threatened by the emergence of new economic centers and assured: “trade must be an instrument of development, not a punitive instrument to punish other countries.”
New trade routes
During an official event, the Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, highlighted the importance of the role of Russia and China, in the leadership in the alternative construction of the new multipolar world, as a guarantee of solidity and stability, in terms of supporting the new policies that will promote development agreements with multilateral benefits.
“Russia and China are the great drivers at the moment, to strengthen the other fronts that have been developing, including here in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as Celac,” stated the Sandinista leader.
According to the Latin American president, the new links of cooperation and trade come to establish the foundations in the region, in the face of the opening of new horizons, which will unleash the new era of development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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“Without being blackmailed, without being threatened, without being attacked, and without being robbed, because the imperialist powers rob and loot the people,” said Ortega.
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Ortega maintained that “a new reality is being configured in the world, where imperialist hegemony will be buried, and democracy will be established among the people: respect, sovereignty and cooperation, taking into account the asymmetries.”
