BWIA To Resume Costa Rica Flights
Trinidad's Trade and Industry Minister, Kenneth Valley, said Wednesday that BWIA would start flying to Costa Rica once again.

Valley made the statement following the signing of a free trade agreement between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Costa Rica at the Hilton Trinidad, in Port-of-Spain.

"BWEE will be flying to Costa Rica very soon," he said.

Trinidad is the first state in 15-member CARICOM to implement the general agreement signed with Costa Rica back in 2004.

Following an initial agreement, the national airline begun flights to Costa Rica but low volumes of passengers caused operations to cease.

Costa Rica Minister of Foreign Trade, Manuel Gonzalez Sanz, is in Trinidad to discuss with Minister Valley the new deal.

Mr. Sanz said, "It is a dream come true" for Costa Rica, which has a population of four million and which was the first country to back T&T's move to have the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) headquarters located in Port-of-Spain.

"FTAA is still alive," he said, adding that Costa Rica was still supporting T&T.

Mr. Valley, whose responsibility is to lobby other regional countries to take advantage of the agreement, said the primary objectives of these arrangements is to widen the market opportunities in Latin America for T&T manufacturers and service providers and regional businesses.

Under the deal, more than 90 per cent of goods will receive duty-free access to markets immediately, while tariffs on other products will be reduced gradually over four years.

The agreement will allow for about 94 per cent of CARICOM products into Costa Rica duty-free and the products of many CARICOM countries will receive preferential treatment.