Costa Rica and Panama ratify free trade agreement
(journalcr.com) Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly ratified in second and final debate a free trade agreement with Panama that will open up the commercial channels between the neighboring nations.
“The legislative approval of the TLC (free trade agreement) with Panama pleases us a lot, because this deal will guarantee privileged access to the Panamanian market, with which we have a lot of interaction both buying and selling a large variety of goods and services,” said Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz. “It’s also a market in which more than 480 (Costa Rican) companies participate, only surpassed in that number by the United States and Nicaragua. And about 69 percent of those companies are small and medium businesses.”
Panamanian President Martin Torrijos Espino visited Costa Rica on Oct. 24 to sign the trade deal and officially kick off trade relations under this instrument.
Arriving in a private flight, Torrijos was welcomed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias at Casa Presidencial, where both leaders had a meeting behind closed doors. They later took part in the ceremonial signing of the trade agreement.
According from data provided by the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), Costa Rican exports to the neighbor to the south have grown at an average of 18 percent every year for the past five year. In 2008, trade with Panama has experienced exceptional growth, going from $216 million (January-August of 2007) to $293 million (January-August of 2008) — up 35.6 percent.
Panama is Costa Rica’s fifth largest export market this year according to data accumulated through August. Only in agricultural and food products (19 percent of Costa Rica’s sales to Panama), the canal nation imported $55 million worth of Costa Rican goods, for a 46 percent increase compared with the same period last year.
“The free trade agreement guarantees privileged access to the Panamanian market,” Minister Ruiz added. “It allows duty-free access for 92 percent of some 1,500 products and services Costa Rica exports to Panama.”
The Panamanian president had been in Costa Rica in August of 2007 to sign the text of the bilateral trade deal, which was approved by Panama’s parliament four months later.
At that time, both nations also held their First Bilateral Meeting, a mechanism they hope will provide permanent dialogue between the neighbors. The next such meeting will be held in San Jose in the near future.
Costa Rica and Panama — two stable nations that at different points in their history made the decision to abolish their armed forces — hope this trade deal will strengthen their ties and maximize their efforts to improve the livelihood of their inhabitants, according to a communiqué from Costa Rica’s Foreign Relations Ministry.
