The Superior Council of Private Enterprise opposes the proposed "patriotic tax" of 35% on Costa Rican products and services.
The proposal by the Nicaraguan former Foreign Minister Francisco Aguirre, to charge a 35% tariff on products entering from Costa Rica has been rejected by the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep).
The Costa Rican government will ask the International Court of Justice to determine the border between the two countries in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Both countries have not reached an agreement over the delimitation of their maritime boundaries, and the recent decision by Nicaragua to tender exploration and exploitation of oil in Caribbean waters has alarmed the government of Costa Rica which has denounced Nicaragua for offering such licenses in areas that Costa Ricans consider belongs to them.
"The dispute with Nicaragua is over", reported the Panamanian Foreign Ministry.
The agreement came after the president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, during his speech at the 68th General Assembly of the United Nations Organization (UN), criticized the intentions of the Nicaraguans in extending their territorial sea.
President Santos said the Hague ruling is "not applicable" and has decreed a Comprehensive Contiguous Zone, where they "will exercise complete jurisdiction and control".
A statement from the presidency of Colombia reads:
Colombia presents its Comprehensive Strategy Against Hague Ruling
The permits were given a month ago to entrepreneurs from Honduras and Panama and four more boats are waiting for a response from the authorities, confirmed Santos Rugama, fishery inspector at the South Atlantic Autonomous Regional Government.
The so called 'Patriotic Tax' of 35% applied to imports from Colombia is hampering the growth of Colombian investment in the country.
After visiting a trade mission composed of mining companies, sanitaryware companies and craft companies from Colombia, Nicaraguan businessmen said the Government should take into consideration that business opportunities such as these generate more investment in the country, therefore they have requested the elimination or modification of the tax on goods and services, assembly and imported manufactured goods from that South American nation.
Expectations are for an increase of between 8% and 12% due to use of space in the Caribbean Sea which until last year was under Colombian sovereignty.
According to the executive director of the Nicaraguan Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (INPESCA), Steadman Fagoth Müller, profits from fishing activities are expected of up to $270 million at year-end, compared with the $248 million generated last year.
Production from the sea area could increase by 60 to 70 thousand tonnes because of the extension the area under Nicaraguan sovereignty.
Until the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice, Nicaragua fished just west of longitude 82. Now more than 90,000 square kilometers of ocean rich in species such as lobster has been added.
The International Court of The Hague has ruled that the sea over the Caribbean continental shelf belongs to Nicaragua, with the exception of the San Andrés archipelago.
The Court's ruling maintains Colombia’s sovereignty over the islands of San Andres and Providencia, and all the keys of the archipelago and the sea area extending eastward of these islands.
Here is the story of the US’s alleged debt to Nicaragua of $17,000 million, generated by a ruling of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
"The story of 17,000 million dollars
One of the few interesting things that Daniel Ortega said in his speech on July 19, the 32nd anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, was that he would revisit the claim that the United States allegedly has debt of more than $17 000 million, arising from a ruling in favour of Nicaragua made by the International Court of Justice in The Hague on June 27, 1986.
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