Nicaragua trade mission visiting Miami

Nicaragua trade mission visiting Miami A trade mission made up of some 40 Nicaragua-based businesses is in Miami this week meeting with representatives from U.S. companies in an effort to increase sales of Nicaraguan products.
   Members of the trade mission have been holding a series of by-appointment-only meetings at the J.W. Marriott Hotel on Brickell Avenue in Miami. The meetings have been coordinated through the Nicaraguan Consulate in Miami (305-265-1415).
   Nicaragua had a comparatively modest $1.5 billion in exports to the U.S. in 2005, which is considerably less than the other countries in Central America. However, it had an export growth rate of 47 percent over the last three years, while the rest of Central American had an average growth in exports to the U.S. of 4 percent.
   In an interview with the Miami Herald, Ivan Saballos, executive director of NicaExport, the government agency in charge of promoting foreign trade, said Nicaraguan companies are generally seeking to reach the ethnic market for their products.
   There are an estimated 220,000 Nicaraguans living in South Florida.
   Saballos said that represents about 30 percent of the entire U.S. market for Nicaraguan expatriates.