CAFTA
USTDA, in support of the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), has developed a strategy to identify and quantify the trade-related needs of each country through Information Technology (IT) related solutions. decision analysis partners were tasked with investigating IT projects proposed by the governments of Honduras and Nicaragua to determine their viability and their potential contribution to trade capacity building efforts.
Honduras
A total of 35 interviews with approximately 60 people were conducted in Honduras. The study team recommends two projects for potential funding, ranked in order of priority: Developing a web-based Trade Information Exchange Portal to enhance bilateral trade; and Integrating the Honduras private sector tourism businesses into the Ministry of Tourism’s existing (e-Commerce capable) web portal.
Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, the team recommended 1) Expanding the core optical network capacity of Nicaragua’s telecom infrastructure; 2) Developing an agricultural production portal to increase production capabilities of Nicaragua’s agriculture sector; and 3) Developing and implementing a bi-lingual marketing portal for information exchange and to facilitate trade as a “virtual mall”.
