Government Announces TLC
Extension Agreement
The Poder Ejecutivo
(government) said
yesterday that it has
negotiated an extension
for the Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) for a
period of up to seven
months.
Details of the extension
are to be made available
later this week once all
the nations to the free
trade agreement - the
United States,
Nicaragua, Guatemala,
Honduras, El Salvador
and the Dominican
Republic - all have
signed the extension
agreement.
The signing is expected
to take place in
Washington.
Costa Rica is the only
signatory country to the
trade agreement who has
yet to ratify the
agreement and the only
country to ask for an
extension. All the other
countries to the trade
deal have ratified their
respective agreements
and are in effect.
The deadline for the
trade deal ratification
was March 1, 2008, when
Costa Rica was expected
to have passed all the
"complimentary laws"
required to put the TLC
in effect, after the "Si"
vote won the referendum
of October 7, 2007.
The extension will now
give Costa Rican
lawmakers more time to
discuss the pending
complimentary laws that
are still before the
Legislative Assembly,
which of the 12
complimentary laws, only
two have been passed
into law, eight only
have the approval of
first reading (a second
reading is required),
three are in "tramite"
(process" and one has
yet to make it to the
legislative floor.
To confirm the
extension, the ministro
de Comercio Exterior
(Foreign minister),
Marco Vinicio Ruiz, will
be travelling to
Washington tomorrow.
According to Ruiz, all
the countries have given
their approval to the
extension.
"What I can tell you is
that I spoke to all my
counterparts and they
all have guaranteed me
that there will be no
inconvenience", said
Ruiz.
For her part, Costa
Rica's vice-president,
Laura Chinchilla,
expressed the same
confidence following her
participation in the
summit of the Central
American presidents in
El Salvador last week.
Signing the extension
will be the ambassadors
in the United States
representing their
country and for the U.S.
will be an official of
the United States Trade
Representative.
The news of the
extension was made
public yesterday by
minister Ruiz when he
visited the Legislative
Assembly and met with
the leaders of the
Movimiento Libertario
(ML) and the Partido
Unidad Social Cristiana
(PUSC), who are
supporters of the trade
deal along with his own
party, the Partico
Liberación Nacional (PLN),
The only holdback to the
trade deal are the
members of the Partido
Accion Cuidadana (PAC).
Ruiz added that the
extension will take the
pressure of legislators
and Costa Rica but in no
way will diminish the
pace.
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