Harper to Help Honduras Put Up 'Open for Business' Sign

Carl Meyer
Embassy
August 10, 2011

For the past week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been touring Latin America. His first stop was in Brazil, where he sought to strengthen business ties with the emerging economy of 190 million consumers. Free trade partners Colombia and Costa Rica were next on the itinerary.

But on Aug. 12, Mr. Harper will become the first world leader to visit Honduras since it was re-admitted into the Organization of American States. There, Mr. Harper will meet with Honduras President Porfirio Lobo and sign a free trade agreement in San Pedro Sula, according to a Honduras government press release. The government says the deal will increase exports from Honduras to Canada by $350 million and eliminate tariffs on 96 percent of Honduran products...

"A country like [Canada] choosing to engage with Honduras," said Council of the Americas vice-president Eric Farnsworth, "certainly gives impetus toward others viewing this as a situation that said, 'Look, the Honduran people have suffered enough, we have to find a way to bring Honduras back into the community of democracies in the region, for the good of the people of Honduras.'"

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