Costa Rica Agriculture Foresses Crisis Without EU Agreement
In the absence of ratification of the Agreement, the agricultural sector sees its 2013 and 2014 harvests in danger, as European buyers are already negotiating with other Central American countries.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Alvaro Saenz, president of the National Chamber of Agriculture and Agribusiness (CNAA), said the delay in the approval of the CAAA compromises the sector since on June 15 Europe will announce which countries will enter into the first block of the trade agreement to set export quotas.
"European buyers, quite rightly, are already negotiating the purchase of the 2014 harvest with producers from those countries who they can now buy from duty free. This excludes us Costa Ricans and puts us in a state of potential crisis which will threaten more than 280,000 direct and indirect jobs," he added.
For his part, Jorge Sauma, representative of the Costa Rican Chamber of Exporters (Cadexco) indicated that the delay also leaves the sale of bananas to Europe up in the air.
"The banana war that we have been in for almost 20 years has been solved with the CAAA. Therefore it is not fair that the country be left out of the distribution of quotas, in light of the threat of being left out of the first block of signatory countries," said Sauma.
The Council of the European Union has approved Guatemala's application to the trade pillar of the Association Agreement with Central America.
From a press release by the Government of Panama:
The Council of the European Union met today at its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and confirmed the implementation of the Trade pillar of the Association Agreement between this institution and Guatemala starting December 1st.
The Council of the European Union has approved Costa Rica's entry into the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union.
From a press release by the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex):
The European Union Council today unanimously approved Costa Rica's entry into the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union (CAAA).
The Trade Policy Committee of the Council of the European Union has recommended the entry into force of the agreement with Costa Rica on 1st of October.
From a press release by the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex):
The Trade Policy Committee of the Council of the European Union, composed of the appropriate Ministries of the Member States agreed today to recommend the entry into force for Costa Rica of the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union (CAAA). The decision is an important step towards achieving the enforcement of this agreement from October 1.
The Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union will enter into force on August 1 for countries which ratify it before July 15.
From a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (COMEX):
Today, the deputies in charge of foreign trade of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama met in San Jose, where they held a video conference with the Director General of the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission, Joao Aguiar Machado, who served as Chief Negotiator for the European Central America Association Agreement (CAAA). During the meeting they discussed the progress of the registration of geographical indications in the legislative process and approval of the Agreement.
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