Costa Rica To Ask For
Delay in Trade Agreement
Costa Rican president,
Óscar Arias, said he
would ask the United
States to delay the
start of a free-trade
agreement to give the
country time to pass the
"parallel" laws that are
slowly making their way
through the Legislative
Assembly.
Arias, in a meeting of
local leaders yesterday,
reminded that Costa Rica
was the only country in
the Free Trade Agreement
with the United States
to decide by popular
vote and will also be
the first to ask for a
delay.
Costa Rican decided, by
a small margin, in
favour of the Tratado de
Libre Comercio (TLC) in
a referendum held last
October 7.
As part of the TLC
approval which takes
effect on March 1, 2008,
the country was
committed to passing a
series of laws that
strengthen state
agencies in the face of
competition and protect
such items as copyright
laws.
To date, the Legislature
has only passed 4 of the
13 laws with a just a
month to go before the
March 1 deadline.
The trade deal has
already taken effect in
the Dominican Republic,
Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and El
Salvador.
The White House fought a
bruising battle to get
the deal ratified by the
U.S. Congress in 2005,
when it passed the House
of Representatives by
just two votes.
Arias estimated that
lawmakers would need
until at least the
second half of February,
but said to know for
sure, he would need to
speak with legislative
leaders.
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