The Canada–Honduras Free Trade Agreement is a

free trade agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur ...

between

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

which entered into force on 1 October 2014. From 2000-2010, Canada was in multilateral negotiations with Honduras,

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

(collectively the Central American Four or CA4) on a proposed

Canada–Central American Four Free Trade Agreement The Canada–Central American Four Free Trade Agreement was a proposed free trade agreement between Canada and the Central American states of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua (collectively referred to as the Central American Four or C ...

. When no agreement was reached between Canada and the CA4 after twelve rounds of negotiation, Canada and Honduras began separate bilateral negotiations in 2010. Canadian Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

's visit to the city of

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671,460 ...

to sign the ceremonial initial agreement in 2011 was the first time a foreign leader had visited Honduras since the 2009 coup d'état. Harper was criticized for engaging in negotiations with the government of Honduran President

Pepe Lobo Porfirio Lobo Sosa (born 22 December 1947), known as Pepe Lobo, is a Honduras, Honduran politician and agricultural landowner who served as President of Honduras from 2010 to 2014. A member of the conservative National Party of Honduras, Natio ...

, with observers in Canada saying the country under Lobo is "an impoverished quasi-dictatorship" and criticizing Canada's lack of response to human rights concerns in the country. The final agreement was signed by the trade ministers of both countries, along with side cooperation agreements on environmental protection and labour rights, on 5 November 2013.

References

External links

Agreement text
{{Free trade agreements of Canada

Treaties of Honduras Treaties concluded in 2013 Treaties entered into force in 2014 Canada–Honduras relations 2013 in Honduras 2013 in Canada

See also

References

External links