Barbados Signs On To CARICOM-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement
A free trade agreement between Costa Rica and Barbados, that essentially eliminates barriers to trade and facilitates cross-border movement of goods and services between the territories, went into effect this week.

Barbados is the third Caribbean nation to join the agreement, which includes 12 of the 15 CARICOM member countries. The Barbados deal was formalized with notes exchanged between Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz and Barbados´ Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Billie A. Miller.

The initial agreement between Costa Rica and CARICOM countries was signed in 2004. Then CARICOM chair and former Jamaica Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson, had called on farmers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and workers in the grouping to ensure that the agreement lives up to its promise of stimulating growth and development.

The Caricom/Costa Rica trade deal was passed into law in T&T last year and subsequently in Suriname.

In addition to trade in goods, the agreement provides for the application of anti- dumping measures and for the enhancement of sanitary measures.