Emerald Coast, Nicaragua (Source:Huanqiu)

China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said on Saturday that China is willing to work with Nicaragua to promote the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and looks forward to moving forward with the negotiation and signing of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), the official website of the ministry read on Monday.

Wang's remarks came as he met with Laureano Ortega, advisor on investment, trade and international cooperation from the Nicaraguan president's office. The two countries resumed diplomatic ties more than one year ago. 

Wang noted that since the resumption of diplomatic relations, bilateral economic and trade cooperation has reaped fruitful results under the leadership of the two leaders. 2022 saw the establishment of an inter-governmental mechanism for economic and trade cooperation, the signing of the early harvest arrangements for a bilateral FTA as well as the launch of negotiations on a comprehensive FTA. 

Nicaragua made its debut at the 5th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which has enhanced the visibility of its local products in the Chinese market. Moreover, China's imports from Nicaragua increased by 43.7 percent year-on-year, fully demonstrating the dividends of the resumption of diplomatic relations, Wang said.

Wang noted that the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to promote Chinese-style modernization, which will bring huge market opportunities to Nicaragua. As this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-proposed BRI, China's Ministry of Commerce is willing to work with Nicaragua to promote the high-quality construction of BRI, and make every effort to advance the negotiation and signing of FTA, in order to transform complementary advantages into comprehensive cooperation momentum, and promote bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level.

Laureano said that Nicaragua attaches great importance to the FTA negotiations, hoping that both sides will speed up to promote the early harvest arrangements of the FTA to enter into force as soon as possible and reach a high-quality comprehensive agreement at an early date. Nicaragua is willing to work with China to actively implement the consensus of the two heads of state, continuously improve the level of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and jointly build a community with a shared future. 

The advisor added that Nicaragua is willing to actively participate in various exhibitions hosted by China, such as the CIIE, to further expand the scale of bilateral imports and exports. Meanwhile, Nicaragua welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in the country, and is willing to provide a better business environment for Chinese investors. 

On the same day, Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also met with Laureano, noting that the resumption of bilateral ties conforms to the trend of history, serves the interests of the two peoples and will open up broader prospects for the all-round development of bilateral relations.

In July 2022, Wang Wentao and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada signed an early harvest arrangement for a bilateral FTA via video link. They also announced the beginning of FTA negotiations.

In 2022, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade reached $759.6 million, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed.

Global Times