President Arias Says Costa Rica Cannot Turn Its Back On The Free Trade
"Today out country has the extraordinary opportunity to deeply integrate with the world. The TLC with the United States will not only consolidate access of our products to the world's largest market, but will also stimulate he flow of foreign investment and transfer of technology that is essential to the development of our country.

"Evidently, the TLC, like any other, does not offer certainty nor opportunities. For our young, Costa Rica cannot give itself the luxury of turning its back on the TLC with the United States", where the words of president Oscar Arias, during the closing of the II Semana Social held at the Hotel Corobicí.

Arias told his audience that Costa Rica and the rest of Latin America needs more globalization and not less, more information and less prejudice, more knowledge and less ignorance, more responsibility and less demagogue.

The Chief of State said that the privileged groups in the country have to understand the urgent need to create an elevated tax system that is progressive, because the current tax system is not sufficiently adequate to meet the needs of the public institutions and to reduce the gap between the results and the expectations.

Costa Rica is the only signatory country not to ratify the Tratado Libre de Comercio (TLC) - the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) - with the United States. The other Central American countries of Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have already put the agreement in effect.

Costa Rica has until January to ratify.