A two-day meeting of Central American ministers and US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ended Thursday without a regional security deal, but with agreement to meet again.
The defense and interior ministers sought agreement on creating a regional response team for natural disasters and building a Central American battalion for peacekeeping missions.
The meeting had also sought an agreement allowing the region's armed forces to participate in international operations against drugs, gangs and trafficking in persons, among other crimes.
The Pentagon pushed for regional cooperation after approval of CAFTA, a freed-trade agreement covering the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States.
Rumsfeld said "the recognition of the critical relationship between security and economic opportunity" was key to making the agreement work.
"We made useful progress toward increasing cooperation of our armed forces in important areas such as planning and training together to better prepare for future natural disasters and jointly combating transnational threats," he said.
The most divisive issue was coordination between regional armed forces in multilateral operations.
"We are ready to cooperate on these threats," said Nicaraguan Defense Minister Avil Ramirez.
"Our countries' armies do not have jurisdiction to capture or interdict gangs or persons tied to drug trafficking," he said. "We want a mechanism that allows us to overcome legal obstacles."
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