Colombia, Peru, Chile and Mexico approved the inclusion of Costa Rica to the Partnership Framework Agreement, the first step towards total integration into the block.
From a press release issued by the Presidency of Costa Rica:
Under the VIII Summit of Heads of State of the Pacific Alliance, the President of the Republic, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, along with her counterparts in Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, Chile, Sebastián Piñera Echenique, Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto and Peru, Ollanta Humala Tasso signed a Declaration on the Accession of Costa Rica to the Pacific Alliance.
The Pacific Alliance has become the largest market in Latin America and an attractive investment for companies in third party countries who want to use it.
"In 2012, the Gross Domestic Product of the Pacific Partnership (AP by its initials in Spanish) grew by 5%, two points higher than that recorded by the global economy. FDI remained at an acceptable rhythm, with $71.045 billion, of which over $30 billion was destined for Chile.
The Latin America-China Business Summit was held on November 26th and 27th in Costa Rica with more than 1,200 employers in regions with growing commercial exchanges.
Chinese and Latin American entrepreneurs gathered for two days for business meetings, contributing to increased trade in Latin America with the Asian country, which is already a commercial destination of prime importance for this region.
The Pacific Alliance is now operating and producing results which are favorable to the development of the nations which compose it, and it is a natural environment for Central American countries to be integrated into.
Editorial
The very apt comparison made by analyst Andres Oppenheimer between the economic blocs Mercosur-Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela-, and the Pacific Alliance-Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru (soon to also include Costa Rica) - shows the major conceptual differences between one group and another, and the concrete results generated for the development of their people.
To complete the integration process the Costa Rican Congress must ratify the FTA with Colombia and the framework agreement of the Pacific Alliance.
"... 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.
As part of the campaign launched by the administration of Pérez Molina so that Guatemala can be admitted to the Pacific Alliance, the visa requirements for Colombians and Peruvians to enter the country have been removed.
From a press release by the Guatemalan Government:
The elimination of visa requirements for citizens of Colombia and Peru for entry into Guatemala, is one of the proposals of President Otto Perez Molina given during participation this Thursday of the VII Summit of the Pacific Alliance in Cali, Colombia.
Products such as drugs, tires, plants, plastics, bread, cookies, flavored alcoholic beverages and batteries will be able to enter Colombia without incurring taxes.
This was confirmed by the Minister of Foreign Trade, Anabel Gonzalez. "The agreement will bring about the meeting of Gonzalez with her Colombian counterpart, Sergio Diaz-Granados, in the city of Cali during the VII Summit of the Pacific Alliance in which the country will participate.
President Chinchilla has begun her tour of the Republic of Korea, in order to promote trade and investment and strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reads:
Costa Rica seeks more trade, investment and cooperation for competitiveness in Korea
Korea, August 20, 2012. On Monday the President of the Republic, Laura Chinchilla and the accompanying delegation began their tour of the Republic of Korea, in order to promote increased trade and investment flows and to strengthen economic cooperation, particularly in the areas of competitiveness.
Costa Rica will host the sixth China - Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Business Summit, to be held in October 2013.
The summit organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) seeks to strengthen trade relations between the two regions.
"The Ministry of Foreign Trade said in a statement that the summit "’is the business forum with the greatest amount of trade and investment between Latin America and the Asian giant and attracts high-level representatives from government, business and the academic sector’ ", reported Prensalibre.com.
The two countries will start negotiations on a free trade agreement on June 15, despite opposition from the Costa Rican business sector.
On June 15 Costa Rica and Colombia will kick start negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that could be signed this year, said the Costa Rican president, Laura Chinchilla.
The first round will be held during an official visit by the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos.
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 president of South Korea expressed his intention of negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the Costa Rica - Panama block.
This announcement was made by Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla, after holding a meeting with Lee Myung-bak, president of South Korea.
Nacion.com reported that “the president explained her Asian counterpart that in other occasions, the country started FTA negotiation processes to which other nations joined later”.
The region must now define how to distribute the import and export quotas negotiated with the European Union.
Central America obtained a regional sugar export quota of 162.000 metric tons, and a meat quota of 9.500 metric tons.
“Rice got a tariff-free quota of 20.000 metric tons”, reported Laprensalibre.co.cr. “As for banana, there will be a gradual tariff reduction down to €75 per ton in 2020.
The chamber of Industries congratulates Laura Chinchilla as the next president of Costa Rica, and states the key issues for the sector.
“We welcome Laura Chinchilla, hoping her future Government improves job quantity and quality, always moving towards a more equal Costa Rica, but also more competitive and capable. We offer our support to work together in defining the road to place the country among the top generators of opportunities”, stated Juan María González, president of the Chamber of Commerce.
Textile companies had invested millions of dollars in creating new plants here in the hope of exporting clothing tariff-free into the Unites States.
That was before the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) decided that the lawmakers had missed a step in procedure and sent back the environmental law that had been passed only weeks before. Twelve similar CAFTA-enablement laws had been passed and are on the books, not without bitter debate and some difficulty, including the strenuously contested one to open telecommunications and another striking down the government insurance monopoly.