Sunday 02 March 2003
Week of
trade talks concludes
Negotiators for the United States
and five Central American countries wrapped up a week of trade talks in
Cincinnati on Friday, saying they're optimistic that they can complete a
comprehensive free trade agreement by December.
"We're confident it can be completed this
year, but we know we have a lot of work,'' Regina Vargo, chief U.S. negotiator,
said at a news conference wrapping up the second of nine negotiating sessions
leading to a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). 
Costa Rica Role Model
Even though it is true that there is no
perfect system and that one country differs from the next one, Dr. Carmelo Mesa-Lago
(above) says that, in Latin America, Costa Rica can play a role model to guide
the nations that are looking for a new social and economic model.
The Cuban-American expert made his assertion based upon a 10-year study in which
he analyzed 20 economic and social variables in Chile, Cuba, and Costa Rica. He
further explained that the three nations were chosen because they range from the
absolute market of Chile to the state socialism of Cuba, with Costa Rica as the
best example of balance between the other two.
Undoubtedly, Dr. Mesa-Lago admitted, Chile has performed best in the economic
field, but in the social one it does not show the achievements of Costa Rica,
which has always enjoyed a democratic system.
He pointed out that the results of his study -collected in the book Looking
for an Economic Model for Latin America: Chile, Cuba, and Costa Rica-recommend
taking the Costa Rican example as a guide, no attempting to transfer it whole
elsewhere. "It has proven that it can attain positive results and, more
importantly, it has done so without binding itself to ideologies, and that is
what my book wants, that Costa Rica be a role model," he added.
Housing adjusted to geography
Starting this year, the houses for poor
families will be built according to the geographical conditions of the area
selected, and agreeing with the customs and needs of those who are going to live
in them.
Housing Minister Helio Fallas explained that, for example, the houses built in
areas with any threat of floods are going to be built on stilts, those in cold
areas will have lower roofs, the ones for Indian families will have the kitchen
and bathroom outside, and so forth. There are special designs for the housing of
the handicapped, he added.
The need to differentiate the design has been made evident in recent years, when
floods have destroyed many houses because the concept of building on stilts had
almost been lost
Birth rate drop
In 2002, the number of births in Costa Rica
decreased by 5,257 as compared to the preceding year. Such a major drop had not
been recorded before, even though the downward trend in births became noticeable
in the early nineties.
Because of this, health authorities and demography experts did not hide their
surprise at the data disclosed by the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC
in Spanish). While the recorded births in 2001 were 76,401, the figure dropped
to 71,144.
Based on an estimated 4-million general population, the birth rate dropped from
20.1 percent in the year 2001 to 17.8 percent last year.
Air link to Trinidad
British West Indies Airways (BWIA), the Trinidad & Tobago airline, will
start flying to Costa Rica as of next April 10.
The Foreign Relations Minister of Trinidad, Knowlson gift, asserted that the
flights between Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago will strengthen the already
good bilateral relations between the two countries.
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The
Week in Review: 24 February 2003
to 01 March 2003
From
the Daily News! |
Taxistas to take to the streets March 18th
As an emergin custom, Costaricans are
taking more to the streets to show their displeasure with government policies
and bills passed by the legislature.
This ploy has worked well in the past, as a means to press the government and/or
the legislators to revise or withdraw for their plans.
'Zonas Francas'
impel economy
A source of
dynamism of the economy in 2003 will come from the companies that operate in zonas francas
(free trade zones), according to a report of the Ecoanαlisis company.
Negotiators say they're on track to work out trade deal
As five days of talks on a free-trade deal
between the United States and five Central American nations ended, negotiators
said Friday that they made progress and reaffirmed their commitment to
reaching an agreement by year's end.
Costa Rica the largest country in Central
America?
Any child would answer to the contrary,
because it wasn't until now that the territorial waters are included in the maps
used in the schools in this country.
Dollar reserves up
The Central Bank reported receiving another $450 million -from bond sales in
January-, which took the dollar reserves of Costa Rica to more than $1.68
billion early in February. By February 14 the figure was over $1.7 billion, the
highest ever recorded in this nation. According to Central Bank sources, as
forecast by earlier trends, the reserves are currently what had been expected
for this time of year.
U.S., Central American officials progress in talks
U.S. officials on Tuesday gave
several proposals to Central American delegates during negotiations to produce a
free trade agreement between the United States and five Central American
nations.
The proposals included guidelines for negotiations on access to markets for
industrial products and a draft accord for resolving disputes. The content was
not made public.
Split hurts rising party
Eight congressmen have
quit the Citizen Action Party (PAC), headed by Otton Solis, causing a crisis in the group that had surprised
analysts by gaining 26 percent of last year's presidential vote.
The congressmen, including the party's legislative chief Humberto Arce,
announced their departure on Monday, accusing party officials of persecuting
them for using government cars.
Nicaraguan Bishops Join Abortion Debate
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - The Catholic church joined a public debate set off by an
abortion performed on a 9-year-old rape victim, comparing the procedure to a
bombing.
"Is there any difference between a bus full of passengers that receives
the impact of a car bomb and a metallic instrument that impacts the maternal
womb to suck out a fetus?" the nation's bishops asked in an open letter
issued Monday night.
U.S.-Central American trade talks get started
in Cincinnati
CINCINNATI - Negotiators
touted a proposed free trade deal Monday between the
United States and five Central American countries as means
of strengthening prosperity and democracy in the region.
Representatives of the
United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua started a second round of talks on
a trade deal. They hope to present a tentative agreement
to their governments for approval next year.
Nicaragua Investigates Child's Abortion
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaragua is investigating
whether a crime was committed when doctors performed an abortion on a 9-year-old
rape victim, the attorney general announced Monday.
The case has set off a major debate in this Roman Catholic country where
abortion is illegal with few exceptions, one of which is when the mother's life
is in danger.
Costa Rica's digital nature
Costa Rica is putting all its animal and plant life online to create a
digital record of its rich natural wealth.
The National Biodiversity Institute (Inbio) has
developed an information management system called Atta to catalogue species at
risk from farming and logging.
Maintaining sexual relations with minors is
a crime, but many men act with impunity
Every year, an average of four hundred
cases are being reported of young girls (under the age of 15) getting
pregnant.
The laws in Costa Rica constitute it a crime to have sexual relations with a
minor, so it would be logical that a similar amount of charges would be
registered. However, only in a few cases are the men charged with the sexual
offence. Mon
Transport Minister visited the Tempisque
bridge
Accompanied by the engineers, Javier Chaves Minister of Transport crossed
the 780 meters of the work previous Friday. The minister affirmed that the
bridge will be ready to take more within 4 weeks. Mon
Although many civil employees of the government hold similar positions in
diverse institutions, the wage differences are very wide.
Whereas some managers receive wage less than ’600.000 colones ($1.562 at
today's exchange rate), the salary of others is not lower ’1.000.000 colones,
enjoy privileges and in some occasions earn more than the president of the
Republic. Mon
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