Pacific Alliance Accepts Costa Rica as Full Member
To complete the integration process the Costa Rican Congress must ratify the FTA with Colombia and the framework agreement of the Pacific Alliance.
Friday, May 24, 2013
"... President Laura Chinchilla yesterday began a race against time, as she wants by the end of her term, to make Costa Rica's integration into the trade bloc a reality", reported Nacion.com.
The president received approval for the country to start the process of joining the economic forum. "When we announced the approval for us to begin the accession process, I did very respectfully ask the members of the Alliance to allow us to go at a fast pace. Costa Rica wants to move swiftly in this process, without waiting for a long time and you will understand that with one year to go before leaving the Government, I would love to leave this completed," said Chinchilla.
In the view of the leader, who has received the consent to the accession process it is "a recognition of all that the country has been doing in everything related to promoting trade, economic growth based on fundamental values such as respect for rule of law and the promotion of freedom ".
Chinchilla expects that from June they will start proceedings in Congress, leading to the ratification of the FTA with Colombia and the framework agreement of the Pacific Alliance.
The Costa Rican Congress approved on its first reading a Free Trade Agreement which makes 71% of the market for goods and services in Colombia duty free.
On Monday, the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica approved on its first reading the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. The entry into force of this trade agreement is needed in order to allow the Central American nation to join the Pacific Alliance.
The inclination of Latin American governments when deciding which commercial block to join, is clearly marked by their ideological distinctions.
Editorial
While describing the launch of the Pacific Alliance as a "successful exercise in media diplomacy" in an analysis of the issue in his article in Lanacion.com.ar, Alejandro Rebossio highlights the features of this block and those of Mercosur, noting that in just one year of existence, the Pacific countries have achieved more in institutional and commercial integration, than the Atlantic block.
Costa Rica has been admitted as an observer, while Panama, which already had that status, now wants to become a full member of the group, which currently consists of Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
The Pacific Alliance is a trading bloc comprising four Latin American countries: Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, which aims to encourage regional integration and increased growth, development and competitiveness of the economies of those countries through a commitment to moving progressively towards the goal of achieving free movement of goods, services, capital and people.
The Trans-Pacific Alliance is a trade agreement under negotiation, involving Australia, Brunei, Chile, the USA, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica explains:
Costa Rica is exploring the possibility of participating in the Trans-Pacific Alliance, which has the potential to become the commercial hub of the Asia Pacific region.
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