RELATIONS WITH THE EU
The European Union and Honduras
European Union-Central America Association Agreement
The European Union-Central America Association Agreement is the most important institutional bond the EU can establish with its partners at the global level. This kind of agreement is reserved for partners with whom the EU wants to have a strong long-term bond based on mutual trust and the defence of shared values and principles.
The Agreement was signed on June 29, 2012 at Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with the participation of
representatives of the European Union and the governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The year 2024 marked a historic milestone: the final step in the ratification process of the agreement, through which the EU and Central America committed to a close, long-term relationship in all major policy areas. With this, the agreement officially entered into force.
The Association Agreement relies on three complementary and equally important pillars:
A) Political dialogue
B) Cooperation
C) Trade
The trade pillar of the Association Agreement has been provisionally applied since 1 August 2013 with Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, since 1 October 2013 with Costa Rica and El Salvador, and since 1 December 2013 with Guatemala.
-EU-Central America fact sheet
-EU-Central America Association Agreement entry into force fact sheet
A) Political Relations
Europe has always maintained strong cultural, historical, and political ties with Honduras. Since the Stockholm Declaration of 1999—which addressed issues such as governance, human rights, and aid effectiveness—joint action plans have been developed between Honduras and its European donors. The current legal basis for political dialogue and cooperation is the Agreement on Political Dialogue and Cooperation between the European Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and the Republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, on the other, signed in 2003 and in force since May 1, 2014.
This political dialogue was further strengthened with the signing, in July 2023, of a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a periodic bilateral consultation to promote a shared understanding of all issues on the Honduras–European Union agenda.
With this agreement, we aim to create a new framework for dialogue that is more structured and fluid, and to send an important and clear signal of our willingness to explore and establish deeper bilateral relations and a more fruitful partnership.
-
Image
CopyrightUE
B) Cooperation
Technical and financial cooperation projects with Honduras are based on the Multiannual
Indicative Programme (MIP) 2021-2027. In the last twenty years, Europe has significantly financed the provision of basic services for the most vulnerable population, the strengthening of national capacities for the implementation and management of sustainable public policies, job creation, and economic growth, the protection, and promotion of human rights and the responsible management of natural resources and rural development.
Based on the context above, three priority areas are proposed in the Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP):
- Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and Climate Change
- Employment, Decent Work, and Growth
- Rule of Law and Democratic Governance
The Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) for Honduras for 2021-2027 amounts to €128 million.
-
Image
CopyrightUE
C) Economic & Trade Relations
Economic and trade relations between the EU and Honduras have strengthened with the EU-Central America Association Agreement, whose trade pillar is fundamental to promote economic development, considering mutual interests such as the eradication of poverty, job creation and fair and sustainable development.
The trade pillar of the Agreement has been provisionally applied since 2013.
Honduran agriculture—featuring products such as coffee, cacao, and palm oil—is one of the sectors that has most benefited from the Association Agreement. More than 54% of Honduran coffee is exported to the EU, supporting over 120,000 coffee-growing families. EU Member States are also the main destination for Honduran shrimp. Since the provisional implementation of the trade pillar in 2013, Honduras has doubled its exports to the EU and now maintains a favorable trade balance, exporting twice as much to the EU as it imports from it1. See details.
In addition to the Association Agreement between the EU and Central America, some EU countries, such as Germany have their own chamber of commerce in Honduras.
The EU also offers support on the web for exporting to its markets: Export Helpdesk.
Another notable fact is that 21% of Honduras’ foreign investment comes from Europe.
ACCESS2MARKETS
Want to export or import products or services? Want to know which duties to pay or rules to follow?
If you’re a small business looking to internationalise, Access2Markets is for you.
1. Info updated: 07/2025
-
Image
CopyrightEU
Humanitarian Aid
Echo
Honduras is located in one of the world's most disaster-prone regions. Since 1993, the EU has provided humanitarian aid to deal with natural disasters (like Hurricane Mitch in 1999 or Tropical Storm Agatha in 2010). The body responsible for EU humanitarian aid in Central America is ECHO, the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.
Honduras is the second-largest recipient of EU humanitarian aid in Central America. Assistance has been given with a variety of actions such as providing temporary shelter, food, drinking water and medical help to those affected.
ECHO has contributed more than €77 million in Honduras since 19941, including €24 million for disaster preparedness measures. This contribution has helped save the lives of those affected by disasters and facilitated the implementation of projects to strengthen the response of local communities and authorities to emergencies.
1.Update: 11/2024
Civil Society Dialogue
Through its presence in Honduras, the European Union considers it highly important to maintain continuous dialogue with civil society. This dialogue aims to strengthen established ties and build relationships with social actors at both the national and local levels. Additionally, it provides a strategic framework to enhance the impact and visibility of EU actions.
To fulfill this commitment to civil society in Honduras, the European Union Delegation has designed a Roadmap for the 2021–2027 period, which was developed and approved in 2021. Conceived as a joint initiative between the European Union (EU) and its Member States (MS), the roadmaps seek to achieve a more strategic engagement with civil society, in line with the Conclusions on Engagement with Civil Society in Foreign Policy adopted by the Council of the European Union on June 19, 2017. This Roadmap defines three main priorities:
- Strengthening an enabling environment for Honduran civil society as a development actor;
- Consolidating structured dialogue and meaningful participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in public policies at the national, EU, and international levels; and
- Enhancing the capacities and knowledge management of Honduran CSOs to carry out their functions as development actors more effectively.
The European Union’s Roadmap for the 2021–2027 period is the result of a consultation and reflection process with broad participation from national and international civil society representatives, enriched by representatives from the EU Member States in the country.
Global Gateway
Global Gateway is a EU quality investment offer to its partners around the world. It aligns partners’ interests with EU interests in a geopolitical perspective. It’s the EU contribution to narrowing the global investment gap accompanying the social and just green and digital transitions beyond European borders and boosting competitiveness and security of global supply chains.
It promotes investments in hard infrastructure by improving the enabling environment, regulatory frameworks, norms and standards, technology transfer, know- how.
Global Gateway will fully respect and promote international standards of labour protection and respect for human rights, as well as good governance and transparency, which makes the overall approach unique and consolidate a distinctive engagement with partner countries.
Global Gateway is implemented through a Team Europe approach mobilising all EU institutions, EU Member States, their Development Finance Institutions and Export Credit Agencies, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European private sector. The joint mobilization of all these financial instruments will be key to make sure the Global Gateway meets the infrastructure priorities of partner countries and, at the same time, creates business opportunities for the European private sector abroad.
Projects are discussed with our partners to decide together on how best they can benefit from our investment offer to ensure that it results in improvement in their necessary infrastructure and connectivity.
Honduras
In Honduras we are supporting the sustainable recovery of the lake "Lago de Yojoa" and accompanying the construction of multi-purpose dams, such as the El Tablón and Morolica. In this way, we are strengthening the regional
market.
La Unión Europea y Honduras, socios estratégicos para enfrentar desafíos comunes