NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, Aug 1: US and Central American negotiators wrapped up customs and electronic commerce issues in their sixth round of free trade talks that ended on Friday without tackling tough agriculture and textile portfolios.

The talks were held in this southern US port city as the US Congress ratified Chile as the first South American country to enjoy free trade on Thursday, raising US President George W. Bush’s hopes of forging a free trade zone of the Americas.

US and Central American negotiators have just three more rounds to settle the thorny issues of patents, trade sanctions, labour and the environment.

Central American countries also want to consolidate the preferences they already enjoy under the US Caribbean Basin initiative, which allows products assembled in those countries from US-made parts to enter the US with preferential tariffs.

“We did not exchange formal offers but talked about sensitive products and moreover, ways around each one of the problems,” Vargo said.

While the United States did not make a formal offer, it did set its priorities for reaching zero tariffs on meats, canned foods, yellow corn, processed cheese and orange juice, among others.

Central American countries did likewise, putting sugar, milk products and agro-industrial products such as snack foods at the top of its list.

Just the same, the sides recognized that it may take longer to roll back tariffs or quotas on certain products. Defining which agricultural products could enjoy longer protection could be taken up at an extraordinary meeting in August in El Salvador as a prelude to round seven, set for Managua September 15-19.

The textile discussion was stymied by difficulties in the rules of origin, prompting the US and Central American business communities to look for a solution that they can present at Managua.

Central America rejected the US proposal of fines up to 15 million dollars for labour and environmental infractions. In its stead, Central American negotiators proposed improving cooperation between labour ministries and a conflict resolution mechanism.

The accord is to be completed in nine rounds. The seventh, in Managua, is to be followed by an eighth round in Houston in late October and the ninth in Washington, late in December.—AFP