MANAGUA, Aug. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Nicaraguan congress' ratification of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Nicaragua and the United States is still pending, local press quoted Enrique Bolanos, president of Nicaragua, as saying on Monday.

    The Liberal Constitutionalist Party and the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front agreed on Aug. 9 to postpone the debate on the ratification of the FTA agreement until the parliamentary recess ends on Sept. 5, said Bolanos in an interview with the "El Nuevo Diario" newspaper.

    Central American countries of Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, as well as the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, signed the free trade agreement with the United States a year ago. The document is known as the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

    The agreement has so far been approved by the congresses of theUnited States, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but it is still pending in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.Enditem