Marking increased engagement in Central America, the International Food Policy Research Institute signed a Cooperation Framework Agreement with the Central American Integration System (SG-SICA) on September 21, 2012, at IFPRI headquarters.IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan and theSG-SICA Secretary General Juan Daniel Alemán Gurdián made the commitment to strengthen cooperation between the organizations on issues related to food and nutritional security in Central America.
More specifically, IFPRI and SG-SICA will work on the development of a mechanism by which they can monitor increases in the prices of staples in Central America. IFPRI will provide the knowledge, experience, and tools needed to develop such a mechanism.
SG-SICA, established in 1991, is the institutional framework of Regional Integration in Central America, created by the States of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Several other countries are also involved.