El Salvador and Costa
Rica Sign Co-operation
Agreement
El Salvador's
president, Antonio Saca,
met with his Costa Rican
counterpart, Oscar
Arias, yesterday to sing
an agreement promising
co-operation in tourism,
technology, trade and
regional integration
between the two
countries.
Arias said at a press
conference in San José
that Costa Rica would
help El Salvador in
developing sustainable
tourism and in return El
Salvador would help the
Costa Rican government
use more technology and
help develop better
relations with small
businesses.
Saca said that although
he respected the Arias
decision to shun
regional integration
efforts such as the
Parlamento
Centroamericano (PARLACEN),
he said he hopes Costa
Rica will join.
El Salvador will be host
next week to the third
round of free trade
negotiations between
Central America and the
European Union, which
will include talks on
political cooperation
between the countries.
On the issue of crime,
Arias said that Costa
Rica's problems are
different than those of
El Salvador where gang
crime is rampant. Arias
said Costa Rica does not
have such problems,
though there has been an
increase in robberies.
"Fortunately are
problems are less
worrisome", said Arias.
However, Costa Rica has
seen an increase in drug
trafficking activity
during the past several
years and is
investigating
infiltration by the the
Colombian rebel group -
the Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de
Colombia (FARC). |
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