I'm not sure how much this report affects us furrinners, it probably relates more to Central American residents at border crossings. The report is from Honduras This Week and La Tribuna:

Honduras and Guatemala sign customs agreement

Customs offices are no more. Yesterday Guatemala and Honduras signed a customs union agreement which will facilitate the movement of business and people between the two countries. The agreement was signed by Honduran president Ricardo Maduro and Guatemalan president Oscar Berger at the border crossing at Agua Caliente on Guatemalan territory, where an agreeable atmosphere prevailed.

This is a mark in the advancement of the process of the Central American customs union. Honduras will later complete the integration of its three border checkpoints with Guatemala, Agua Caliente, El Florido and Corinto, and two with El Salvador, Al Amatillo and El Poy.

The signed agreement makes the CA-4 document redundant, which is still being used for entering these two countries, as well as in El Salvador and Nicaragua. In the near future, the identity card will be sufficient to cross from one country to another.

Oscar Berger indicated that the meeting will go down in history as a mark towards a practical and effective union, “in fact, we won’t delay in presenting the positive results in this integration. What we are doing is taking a step towards globalization in an intelligent way.

The customs offices have become a reminder of the division of territory,” he said. The Honduran president considered that regional unity ought to be built upon common races, but in strict respect of cultural diversity, including within each country.

With integration, intense competition will be encouraged with all products and services from markets that on their own are too small to achieve success.

“All our countries have this problem but the commercial union will be complete with no taxes between all the countries, and equal taxes for exports,” he added.

The Minister of Economy, Norman Garcia, indicated that with the union, merchandise transport costs would come down, as tiresome requirements would not be necessary, but to improve the balance between one country and another, it will depend upon the aggression of the businessman and of the country.

“Inter-Central American commerce totals US$3.1 billion, but Honduras exports barely US$285 million, which is not even 10 per cent. This isn’t the fault of the customs offices; but we are working to improve this situation,” said Garcia.