* Honduras’s government led by President Xiomara Castro has announced the launch of talks regarding a free trade agreement (FTA) with China. It follows Honduras’s decision to switch diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China in March and President Castro’s first official visit to China last month. The talks were launched by Honduras’s minister of economic development (SDE) Fredis Cerrato and China’s trade minister Wang Wentao, according to a SDE press release. The same source said that the treaty’s main objective is to establish a broad and equitable trade agreement which takes into account asymmetries and Honduras’s development needs. It expresses hopes that the agreement will boost Honduras’s agricultural sector in particular, permitting the diversification of Honduras’s exports to the Chinese market and attracting strategic investment. During Castro’s visit to China where she met President Xi Jinping, the two leaders announced Honduras’s future adhesion to China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI), which enables cooperation on major infrastructure projects in transport, energy, economy, and trade. According to the Honduran presidency, the two sides inked 17 bilateral accords, including on agricultural cooperation; science, technology & innovation; and visas, among other things.
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