The Costa Rican National Assembly approved the Association Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Central America, which protects commercial relations between both economies within the framework of the Brexit process.
Approval of the "Agreement Establishing an Association between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Central America" was approved in the second debate, the Legislative Assembly reported last October 28.
Costa Rican businessmen complain that because of export subsidies granted to sugar producers in India, there has been an artificial increase in production, causing prices to fall below costs.
Édgar Herrera, executive director of the Industrial Agricultural League of Sugarcane (Laica), explained to Elobservador.cr that "... These subsidies are greater than those allowed by the World Trade Organization, in the order of $10 billion annually.
In order to guarantee the continuity of trade relations between Costa Rica and the European country, the agreement must still be approved by the Legislative Assembly and published in the Official Newsletter before October 31st.
Despite the fact that in December it was announced that a WTO panel would be formed to solve Mexico's complaint against Costa Rica, this was only established on May 16 and in the next few days’ meetings will begin to set the calendar for the process.
The unresolved conflict dates back several years, in May 2014, when Costa Rican authorities decided to ban the import of avocado from Mexico, arguing the existence of the disease called sunspot.
Because of the problem of the barriers that Costa Rica has imposed since 2014 to the entry of avocado from Mexico remains unsolved, the Mexican authorities asked the WTO to refer the case to an arbitration panel.
The blockade of the Mexican avocado does not end. The Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) reported that Mexico requested the WTO to establish a panel of arbitrators to solve the dispute.
U.S. medical technology company Stryker announced the opening of a financial services center in the country, through which it will support its operations in the region.
From the statement of the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives:
San José, Costa Rica. November 5, 2018. Stryker, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, announced it will open an office in Costa Rica, as it creates a hub for finance activities and services.
Foreign Direct Investment decreased from $1.658 million to $1.199 million between the first half of 2017 and the same period in 2018.
According to data from the Central Bank of Costa Rica reported a decrease in the flow of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the first half of 2018, contrasts with the increase of 52% recorded in the same period last year, given that between the first six months of 2016 and the same period in 2017, the flow went from $1.088 million to $1.658 million.
During the first three months of the year the country's sales abroad totaled $2.738 billion, 8% more than the $2.532 billion reported in the same period in 2017.
According to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Trade, between January and March the products that accelerated exports were medical supplies, pineapples, syrups, palm oil, antisera and sugar.
The tariff will go down from 62% to 35%, as a temporary increase established by the Solis administration in 2015 was revoked.
Nacion.com reports that "...Through a precautionary measure, the Court of Appeals for Administrative and Civil Matters of the Treasury suspended the rice safeguard measure that was established in February 2015, which means that rice can now be imported without incurring the additional taxes that had been established for this grain."
While Honduras and Guatemala are already advancing in the process of customs unification and Nicaragua and El Salvador have joined as observers, in Costa Rica it is thought that full union will only be completed between 2023 and 2025.
The fact that the countries in the region are implementing the processes necessary to achieve Customs Union at different speeds makes the full union of all systems and full opening of borders for the free transit of goods still a distant goal.
The Ministry of Finance in Costa Rica has questioned the legality of the triangulated invoicing of goods imported under free trade agreements.
A threat to the legal security of the country is how the business sector describes the questioning on the part of the Ministry of Finance on the procedure used by many companies to invoice in a triangulated manner goods imported under existing trade agreements.The Treasury's concern is that companies can "inflate" the value when triangulating and leave a portion of revenues outside of the country.
The Nicaraguan side is all ready for cargo transported to and from the port of Limón to save 250 kilometers, but the poor condition of a section of road in Costa Rica is preventing it.
The idea for the construction of the bridge over the San Juan River within the territory of Nicaragua, was to speed up freight between that country and the ports in Limon, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.
It has been announced that the location of the planned special economic zone, which will be financed and built by China, will be decided in the third quarter of 2016.
The eight cantons in the area of the central Pacific which according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade have the necessary conditions to host a special economic zone are Garabito, Aguirre, Esparza, Orotina, Puntarenas, Montes de Oro, Parrita and San Mateo.
An announcement has been made that in the coming days a delegation from the phytosanitary authority of Mexico will arrive in San Jose to discuss the ban on entry of Mexican avocados.
The government is waiting for more technical studies and analyzing the effects it would have on local production if entry of goods and services from Chile, Peru, Mexico and Colombia were fully liberalized .
Although the previous Chinchilla administration had taken firm steps to join the trade bloc, the current President Solis, has cooled down the process, which in order to continue must wait for the Ministry of Foreign Trade to complete further studies on commercial sensitivity, and later present them for public consultation.