the central american common market (cacm) comprises costa rica, el salvador, guatemala, honduras and nicaragua, the signatories of the general treaty on economic integration in 1960. the basic pattern of economic integration in central america was based on a free trade area, with a common external tariff and standardized customs rules, a preferential payments system1 that operated until the start of the 1980s, and a scheme for the subregional coordination of economic policy.
