The Republic is a Central American country sharing boundaries with Guatemala in the west, El Salvador in the south, Nicaragua in the southeast, the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Its capital and largest city are Tegucigalpa. The country is on a land mass of 112,492 square kilometers with a population of over 10 million people. The parts of the territory in the north are under the western Caribbean zone, as reflected in the area’s demographics and culture. The island nation is famous for its rich natural resources, minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, and sugar cane, including its growing textiles industry, which serves the international market. The republic has a Human Development Index of 0.625, thus it is a nation with medium development. It has an inequality-adjusted Human Development Index of 0.443 when income disparity is taken into consideration.
if you are interested in knowing about the diplomatic relations of this country, this article provides information on the foreign diplomatic relations of Honduras and other bilateral relations.
About the country
The levels of income inequality in the territory are higher than in any other Latin American country. Unlike in other Latin American nations, inequality gradually increased in the state between 1991 to 2005. When the country’s Human Development Index is adjusted for inequality, its development index is reduced to .443. While the territory has a higher life expectancy than other countries in the region, its quality of education and standard of living is lower. Income and education inequality both have a great impact on the development of the territory. Poverty is dense in the southern, eastern, and western regions inhabited by rural and indigenous people. The northern and central parts of the country are home to the nation’s industries and infrastructure, leading to low levels of poverty in those regions.
Countries with diplomatic relations
The republic maintains strong relationships with the UK, the US, and other countries in the American region. It also has diplomatic missions in major countries and diplomatic relations with several countries in the world. In 2005, it signed CAFTA, a free trade agreement with the United States, and the same year, Puerto Cortés, its main seaport was included in the U.S. Container Security Initiative. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy announced the first phase of the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI) in 2006. SFI gave the government more authority, giving it access to containers from overseas to improve the risk assessment of individual US-bound containers here.
Bilateral relations of the country
The country had tense relations with Nicaragua from 2000 to 2001 due to a boundary dispute. Nicaragua then imposed a 35% tariff against all goods from Honduras because of the dispute. The General Assembly of the United Nations voted to denounce the coup in 2006 while many Latin American countries, including Mexico, temporarily severed diplomatic relations with Honduras. Full diplomatic relations were re-established with Mexico in 2010. The United States has a small military presence located at a Honduran base. The two countries carry out joint peacekeeping, counter-narcotics, disaster relief, and medical and civic actions. The United States troops carry out and provide logistics support for lots of bilateral and multilateral exercises. It is the republic’s chief trading partner. It helped the territory grow its bilateral and multilateral relations in the framework of the international organizations of which it is a member. With the island’s strong relations with America, it is now home to a large community of Hondurans working there. The bilateral relations between both countries have fostered better cooperation and trade over the years.
