Central American Summit Closing Session

The leaders of El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and Chile met in El Salvador to discuss political and economic matters in a summit of Central American states. During the tenth annual summit, the leaders announced plans to create an organization of Central American states, and proposed a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Central America. El Salvador President Cristiani, whose country hosted the summit, read the final communique produced by the summit during the closing session. The leaders of the Central American countries spoke on the concerns and results of the summit in Spanish, which was simultaneously translated into English for the telecast. close