Informational Workshop About
China Free Trade Deal Held in Guanacaste
(InfoWebPress) – Last Feb. 12, the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX)
and the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMEX) began the
regional workshops program in Nicoya as part of informational and
public consultation activities related to the free trade agreement
Costa Rica is negotiating with the People’s Republic of China. These
workshops are taking place with sponsorship from the National
Chamber of Agriculture and Agribusinesses, the Costa Rican Chamber
of Exporters and state-owned Banco de Costa Rica.
Some 100 people participated in the workshop, among them students
from the National University (UNA) regional campus and business
owners from the Nicoya region.
Attending this first workshop was Fernando Ocampo, chief negotiator
for the trade deal with China; Andres Chavarria, PROCOMER exports
promoter; and Ronald Arce, trade analyst with PROCOMER’s trade
intelligence division.
Chief negotiator Ocampo said that these workshops are part of an
information program mainly geared toward the country’s production
sector, but which is open to anybody interested in knowing more
about the current negotiation process with Chinese trade
authorities. Ocampo added that the government is coordinating with
agriculture and export chambers so that this information can be
taken throughout the country, taking advantages of forums such as
the one in Nicoya to answer questions and receive feedback as the
negotiation process between both nations progresses.
Meanwhile, Chavarria, who directs export promotion efforts for the
country’s industrial sector, added that PROCOMER — as a technical
support entity for the country’s exporters — has been conducting for
the past year and a half several trade promotion activities in China
and with Chinese companies based in Costa Rica.
Chavarria said that the goal of these regional workshops is to
invite and encourage businesses from outside the Central Valley to
come and learn and explore the vast trade opportunities the Chinese
market offers, as well as to share the experience of exporting to
and doing business in the Asian giant.
These sector-specific information workshops are also organized to
unveil studies conducted about market-access conditions for
agricultural and industrial goods in China.
Ocampo highlighted the importance of having companies and
representatives of different production sectors take part in these
workshops, as in this way business owners will be able to identify
potential Chinese market niches of interest for exporting their
goods.
PROCOMER’s website currently offers market-access studies related to
sugar; fish and sea food; metals and related products; paints,
stains and varnishes; coffee; tobacco and cigarettes; plastics,
rubber and related products; flowers and ornamental plants; eggs and
chicken; alcoholic drinks and biofuels; oils and oil seeds; leather,
fur and related products; wine and spirits; pork; paper, cardboard
and graphic industry products; fruit juice concentrates; rice;
vegetables and forest products.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
