The direction of the General Secretariat of the Central American Economic Integration System (SIECA) was left in the hands of El Salvador. The diplomat Francisco Lima Mena, elected by consensus in April 2021 by the Council of Ministers of Central American Economic Integration, is the new responsible authority that replaces his counterpart Melvin Redondo (Honduras), who ended his renowned administration after four years (2017-2021).
The handover event, held on Tuesday (20.07.2021), was attended by Roberto Antonio Malouf, Minister of Economy of Guatemala and Pro Tempore President of the Council of Ministers (COMIECO); María Antonia Rivera, Presidential Designee and Minister in Charge of the Secretariat of Development and Economy of Honduras; Melvin Redondo, outgoing Secretary General of SIECA, and Francisco A. Lima Mena, new Secretary General of SIECA. In addition, the other COMIECO Ministers participated virtually.
At the event, Francisco A. Lima Mena, who has more than 25 years of experience in the field of international law, foreign trade and international development, used his speech to emphasize the importance of SIECA during its 60 years of existence, and noted that he would continue the institution's work agenda.
Among the priority actions highlighted:
- Incorporate Panama into the Economic Integration Subsystem.
- Continue modernizing the region's trade support platforms.
- Promote the Central American Digital Trade Platform.
- Advance trade facilitation and improve the Central American customs union.
- Promote global value chains, logistics mobility, infrastructure, cooperation and institutional strengthening.
- Position “Central America beyond Central America.”
The new Secretary-General indicated that he has met with members of international organizations (WTO, WIPO, UNCTAD, ICC and ECLAC) to "exchange ideas and draw up a map" of the path to follow in the identified actions.
"Multilateralism and Central American integration are the vehicles to promote development in the region"He emphasized.
Francisco Lima Mena will inaugurate the leadership at the community level with the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Independence of Central America, in September, and the commemoration of the sixty years of SIECA, in October. In these decisive moments, the six countries will unify their vision to renew the common future of Central America.
It should be remembered that the SIECA is an institution that was born in 1961 with the creation of the Central American Common Market To support, through technical and administrative advice, the governments of the region, through the Council of Ministers of Economic Integration, in the development of activities that contribute to the improvement of the space of economic integration of Central America constituted by Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
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