The Port Authority of Algeciras Bay (APBA) has participated in the EU-Central America 2026 Forum on Trade, Connectivity, and Sustainable Investment, held in Panama, with an intervention focused on facilitating trade and regional integration. The port authority was part of the panel dedicated to the operationalization of the commitments of the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union, in a context marked by the pursuit of greater logistical efficiency and competitiveness for the region's exports.
During the session, the head of the Department of Operations and Services to the Port Community of the APBA, María Román, presented the interoperability work between the Central American Digital Trade Platform (PDCC) and the Port Community System of the Algeciras Bay Port, Teleport 2.0. The initiative is conceived as a tool to enhance logistical connectivity between Central America and the European Union through a more agile and coordinated information exchange between systems. The proposal aims to optimize documentary and operational processes, facilitate the traceability of goods, and contribute to logistics chains with higher responsiveness to incidents. The APBA frames this project within a strategic corridor where the Port of Algeciras acts as a gateway to the European market for a significant portion of Central American products. According to what was conveyed at the forum, digital interoperability allows for anticipating processes, improving traceability, and providing efficiency to the entire end-to-end logistics chain. In this regard, it linked the initiative with the role already played by the Algeciras enclave in the exchanges between both regions.
The panel also included Eduardo Espinoza Valverde, Director General of Economic Integration, Trade Facilitation, and Transportation of the Central American Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA), and Marco Tulio Abadie, Executive Director of the Customs Administration of Honduras. Both agreed on the need to modernize border infrastructure and harmonize regulatory frameworks to reduce frictions in regional and international trade.
The debate held in Panama has taken place in an international scenario affected by geopolitical uncertainty, recurring disruptions in supply chains, and the transition to green and digital economic models. Within this framework, the forum has served to review the role of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America as an instrument to regulate trade relations, investments, and institutional cooperation.
The relationship between both regions has a history of over four decades. From the community perspective, the year 2026 also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Esquipulas Agreements, considered a central element in the Central American regional reconciliation and in the consolidation of its integration processes. Since then, the EU has maintained a support line for these processes, which now finds a new framework in the full entry into force of the Association Agreement in all its dimensions, formalized in 2024.
In commercial terms, the pillar of this agreement had entered provisional application in 2013. Since then, trade between both regions has multiplied by 2.2, exceeding 19 billion euros annually in 2025, according to the data presented at the forum. The agreement eliminated 99% of tariff lines for industrial and fishing products from its entry into force, as well as a significant part of agricultural tariffs. One of the features emphasized in Panama was that, unlike other trade frameworks, the tariff reduction schedule was relatively short and did not require differentiated lists by country in the commercial part, as it was based on the joint framework of the Central American customs union.
The investment dimension also featured prominently in the interventions. The European Union remains the second-largest foreign investor in Central America, with an approximate share of 15% of the total investment received by the region. Additionally, there is the expectation of new financial flows linked to the Global Gateway agenda, with which Brussels seeks to channel public and private investment towards strategic projects.
Among the areas identified with the greatest potential are regional energy integration, sustainable mobility and logistics, and digital connectivity. The connection between the PDCC and the Algeciras port system is precisely framed within this last field, presented as a concrete example of cooperation aimed at reducing times, improving the quality of information, and facilitating Central American companies' access to the European market.
The forum also addressed issues such as traceability, compliance with the European regulation on deforestation, electrical interconnection, or the adaptation of customs processes to new technological standards. In this set of topics, the interoperability of platforms appears as an operational piece to transfer the commitments of the Association Agreement to the logistical field.
The participation of the APBA in this meeting places the Port of Algeciras within a bi-regional agenda that combines trade, digitalization, and investment in infrastructure. The approach presented in Panama aims to consolidate logistical corridors with greater technological integration, at a time when data management, customs coordination, and visibility of the supply chain gain significance in the competitiveness of maritime and port transport.