Central America Energy Policy at Draw
Hours before the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Central American Integration System (SICA, in Spanish), Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Norman Caldera admitted on Thursday that no consensus has been reached on a regional energy policy.

"We still must define a common energy policy for Central America, because we cannot implement the initiatives offered to us," said the head of Nicaraguan diplomacy.

Caldera inaugurated the preparatory meeting for the Presidential Summit, to be held on Friday in León, 100 kilometers northwest of this capital.

The main disagreement among Central American countries seems to focus on the future location of an oil refinery that Mexico might build in the region.

Costa Rica, whose president, Abel Pacheco, claimed he had a tight schedule to justify his absence at the meeting, offered to have the plant built on its territory, but that wish is shared by other countries in the region.

All Central American countries have the capacity to hold the regional oil refinery, Ambassador Francisco Armendia, of El Salvador, whose president, Antonio Saca, also declined to attend the meeting in León.

The Nicaraguan foreign minister urged the Central American Institute for Enterprise Administration to propose a regional energetic policy.

So far, the presidents of Honduras, Panama and Guatemala, Ricardo Maduro, Martín Torrijos and Oscar Berger, respectively, have confirmed participation in the summit.

Belize will be represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Briceño, while Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic will send their foreign ministers or the ministers of Economy or Energy.