In Costa Rica, the business sector is opposed to a proposed law that would give Icafé the power to impose requirements and controls on the processes of supplying the raw material necessary for grain production.
Discussion forums, advertising and meetings with businesses are part of the efforts that the Business Council of the Pacific Alliance intends to do in Costa Rica.
Arguing that lack of information about the benefits of an eventual accession to the trade bloc is the main reason behind the opposition of some companies, members of the Business Council of the Pacific Alliance (CEAP) announced a plan to promote more, and in a better way, the consequences of joining the Alliance.
The private sector is demanding homogeneity in the foreign trade strategy, since the situation today is that there is "one protectionist minister and another who works for free trade."
In the words of José Manuel Quirce, president of the Chamber of Importers of Costa Rica (Crecex), the Solis administration needs to focus on "... harmonizing approaches in foreign trade" in order to avoid having one agriculture ministry imposing nontariff barriers to protect local production, and at the other extreme another minister of foreign trade promoting free trade.
Protection of facilities and port operations is essential in order to maintain their status as a safe port, a status that had been at risk for the Caribbean ports of Costa Rica.
An article on Crhoy reports that "... The Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of Private Business Sector (Uccaep) and the Costa Rican Chamber of Importers applauded the security measures taken so that the country can maintain the status of 'safe' ports. "
The union of importers is calling for "defense of the Regulatory Authority for Public Services from union attacks and government pressure."
From a statement issued by the Chamber of Importers:
The business sector supports the Regulatory Authorities of Public Services, ARESEP, in its decision not to fund some incentives put forward by RECOPE´s collective agreement in respect to increases of fuel prices.
A trade mission is being prepared for the first half of 2016 for Costa Rican companies interested in exploring business opportunities in Israel.
The business trip is being organized by the Chamber of Importers of Costa Rica and the Israeli Embassy in Costa Rica, and aims to analyze potential business opportunities between the two economies.
On August 11th and 12th 10 Indian companies will be exhibiting their products to local companies interested in forging business alliances.
The participating companies are mostly in the sectors of textiles, clothing for both children and women as nightwear, sheets and all types of fabrics and textiles.
The Indian companies that will be taking part in the event organized by the Chamber of Importers on August 11 are Bhumi International, Manjeet Engg Works, Sun World Trade Linkers, Naresh Enterprises and Tanindera International, while on Wednesday 12 those taking part are Juvan Jyoti Over Seas, Multi Trade Impex, R.S. International, Greezly Enterprises and Rahul Handicraft
The roadmap to be followed by the country for entry into the block, has renewed hopes of businessmen for modernization, fiscal discipline, competitiveness, transparency and legal certainty.
Following the adoption by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of the roadmap to be followed by Costa Rica to be accepted as part of the block, Prensalibre.cr reports that "...As the first step of the program, Costa Rica must submit an initial memorandum which establishes its position regarding 250 legal instruments of the OECD. Following this, experts from the organization will carry out technical reviews and collect information through questionnaires and official visits to the country. "
The protectionist measures being implemented by the Solis administration through non-tariff barriers are causing concern to the union of importers.
The recent ban on imports of avocados from nine markets comes on top of the decision to raise the tariff on rice imports, both market distorting measures intended to protect local production.
José Manuel Quirce, president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Importers (Crecex) told Crhoy.com that "...
Importers are complaining that the "Regístrelo" (RegisterIt) digital system is malfunctioning, and that it is not possible to carry out the steps manually, generating delays of up to five months in these processes.
Although the official announcement of the implementation of the new platform emphasized that one of the benefits was the reduction of timeframes, the import sector is criticizing delays of up to five months in processing health records granted by the Ministry of Health. Added to this is the fact that the system was made obligatory, there was not a period for improvements and now there are no other official instruments to use to register products.
Chambers of Commerce and Importers in Costa Rica are in direct negotiation with cities in China with high potential as buyers.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Importers (Crecex) has signed agreements with the cities of Hunan, Jinan and Zhejiang, while the Chamber of Commerce (CCCR) did the same with Hubei, Jinan, Tianjin, Hunan and Nianjing.
The signing of the agreements was held at the Seventh China and Latin America Business Summit held in Costa Rica on 26 and 27 November and whose main objective was to promote trade between the two regions.
The announcement of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping with trade authorities from his country, reaffirms expectations that trade between the two countries will continue to grow.
However, in the view of the executive director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Importers, Distributors and Representatives (Crecex), Luis Fernando Monge, although Jinping's visit to Costa Rica next week guarantees the country will become better known across the board, Crecex does not expect that the ruler will be accompanied by private entrepreneurs interested in doing business with Costa Ricans, although there are some expectations in that regard.
Costa Rican businesses from all sectors will be involved in a business negotiation event with Panamanian companies on Thursday in San Jose.
According to Katherine Chavez, director of foreign trade of the Costa Rican Chamber of Importers (Crecex), the organizing body, 170 domestic firms will have about 30 minutes to present their products and services and finalize new business.
In Costa Rica the Chamber of Importers (CRECEX) has began signing up members and providing services to exporters, while the Chamber of Exporters (CADEXCO) is experiencing an institutional crisis.
CRECEX has announced the start of the program "Export CRECEX" directed at the export sector.
"The plan to attract exporters to CRECEX is taking shape while Cadexco is still in a process of internal fragmentation, known about publicly since 27 January.
The system came into operation in 2005 and by 2007 all customs offices were integrated into it, reducing the average time of procedures from 48 hours 20 minutes.
Operators feel that the system is "a wonder" and note that "customs offices in the interior no longer have long lines or people offering to streamline procedures informally (known as “gavilanes” in Spanish).