Common Market

Association of European countries designed to promote European economic unity. It was established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 to develop the economies of the member states into a single common market and to build a political union of the states of western Europe. The EEC also sought to establish a single commercial policy toward nonmember countries, to coordinate transportation systems, agricultural policies, and general economic policies, to remove measures restricting free competition, and to assure the mobility of labour, capital, and entrepreneurship among member states. The liberalized trade policies it sponsored from the 1950s were highly successful in increasing trade and economic prosperity in western Europe. In 1967 its governing bodies were merged into the European Community. In 1993 the EEC was renamed the European Community (EC); it is now the principal organization within the European Union.

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The Central American Common Market (CACM; Spanish: Mercado Común Centroamericano, MCCA) was an economic trade organisation between five nations of Central America spanning 100 million acres. It was established on December 13, 1960 between the nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua in a conference in Managua. These nations ratified the treaties of membership the following year. Costa Rica joined the CACM in 1963. Panama is conspicuous by absence.

The organisation collapsed in 1969 with the Football War between Honduras and El Salvador, but was then reinstated in 1991.

The current Central America trade block is organized by the General Treaty for Economical Integration signed October 29 1993 (Guatemala Protocol) which is part of the Central American Integration System SICA.

The CACM has succeeded in removing duties on most products moving among the member countries, and has largely unified external tariffs and increased trade within the member nations. However, it has not achieved the further goals of greater economic and political unification that were hoped for at the organisation's founding, mainly caused by the CACM's inability and lack of reliable means to settle trade disputes.

Comparison with other regional blocs

See also

• History of Central America
• Central American Integration System
• Central American Free Trade Agreement
• Central American Parliament
• Trade bloc

References

• General Treaty on Central American Economic Integration between Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua signed at Managua, on 13 December 1960