Foreign Trade Minister
Says China And A Better
Presence in US Markets
Are A Priority For 2008
China will be a priority
project for 2008
according to the
ministro de Comercio
Exterior de Costa Rica
(Foreign Trade
Minister), Marco Vinicio
Ruiz, who said that
Costa Rica will begin to
study the feasibility of
a free trade agreement
with China.
The interest to
negotiate with China is
also a priority for
Costa Rican president
Oscar Arias, who earlier
this year ended
diplomatic ties with
Taiwan in favour of
China and later visite
the asian country.
"Europe and deepening
relations with China are
our top priority", said
minister Ruiz when
talking about the
challenges he is facing
this coming year.
Costa Rica will be
kicking off "official"
negotiations for a free
trade agreement with the
European Union.
Officials of both side
of the ocean have had
numerous informal talks,
but in February they
will meet officially in
Brussels to a trade
deal.
Ruiz added that a visit
by China's vice-minister
of Foreign Trade between
January 8 and 11, 2008,
will begin the process
of "evaluation and
feasibility" of a
possible trade treaty.
In addition to looking
at Europe and China, the
Costa Rican Foreign
ministry is busy with
the free trade agreement
with the United States,
known locally as the
TLC, that will be in
force on March 1, 2008.
Legislators are working
to approved the
remaining 10 "parallel"
laws, approving the
first two, that are
required before the TLC
goes into force.
Minister Ruiz added that
although Costa Rica had
a boom year for exports,
reaching us$8.6 billion
dollars, more attention
needs to be focused on
U.S. markets when the
growth in that segment
was only 4.9% compared
to 14.1 growth in other
markets.
Ruiz blames the delays
in the free trade
agreement with the
United States for the
slow growth, adding that
Nicaragua and Guatemala,
who already have their
trade deal in force,
experienced a growth of
17.3% and 16.7%,
respectively.
"It is necessary to
better our presence in
the United States, where
currently we only have
an office in Miami,
when, for example, there
are more options like
California, where there
is an interesting market
for our organic
products", said minister
Ruiz.
Ruiz also said that for
2008 his ministry will
be reviewing the current
trade deals with Chile,
Mexico, Canada and
others and working on
reforms to the "zona
francas" (free trade
zones) in an effort to
attract more
manufacturing companies
and less of those in the
service industry. |
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