Costa Rican businesses demand that "legal and procedural obstacles be eliminated", saying that these hamper trade and slow development.
At the eleventh Costa Rican Food Industry Conference, the Costa Rican Food Industry Chamber (CACIA) will present its plan for improving the sector's productivity to government authorities.
Local businesses believe that for optimal development to be possible it is necessary to acknowledge Central America as the most significant market for Costa Rican production.
Disagreement arose among industrialists and Comex, over a request for excluding a number of products which are not produced in the country and enjoy zero tariff.
The goods being requested for exclusion are ambulant circuses, circus tents, cable cars, helicopters, vehicles, bridges and cattle feeding bottles.
The Costa Rican Industry Chamber and the Food Industry Chamber had already complained to the Commerce Ministry for offering 90% of the products without tariff.
For Costa Rican sector leaders, having access to raw materials from all over the world is essential.
Costa Rica's chief negotiator for the Singapore FTA said that the most important topic to deal with is Rules of Origin. In response to this, the president of the Costa Rican Chamber of the Food Industry, Tomás Pozuela, said that "they are a sector in favor of opening markets, but they oppose the restriction of not being able to access international markets in search for raw materials protected by tariff policies".
Denouncing sanitary risks and a lack of quality control in Chinese production, they are asking for the adoption of a Partial Agreement Accord and not a FTA.
Executives from diverse business chambers exchanged strong words in the discussion on this issue. In a press conference where the presidents of various industry chambers were present, including from the Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica (CICR), Cámara Costarricense de la Industria Alimentaria (CACIA), Asociación Costarricense de la Industria Plástica, Asociación de la Metalurgia, and Asociación de la Industria Gráfica, “they denounced that the Department of Foreign Trade (Comex) did not address their requests or concerns despite that they have made their concerns known on various occasions."
The expected growth projections for Panama that emerged after the ratification of NAFTA have not been achieved.
The vice president of the Chamber of Costa Rican Exporters (Cadexco), Sergio Navas, attributed one of the causes to the economic crisis but he also recognized that they should improve logistics systems.
Tatiana Gutierrez highlighted the statements of Mario Montero, executive director of the Costa Rican Chamber of the Food Industry (Cacia), for Prensalibrecr.com: “...the food industry requires commerce liberalization for their commodities, some of which still have very high tariff plans as well as significant protections through the treaties currently in effect."
Costa Rican food exports with raw materials of animal origin are facing entrance problems in El Salvador and Honduras.
According to Prensa.com, the Chamber of Food Industries (CAIC) reported: "The governments of El Salvador and Honduras have established a number of conditions that aggravate the already complicated environment of regulatory excesses faced by Costa Rican companies.
Costa Rican businesses demand that regional common market be strengthened.
The business owners claim that join together 11 treaties is worthless unless their is a common market to ease the trade of products in the region and with harmonious tariffs, not to mention other needs. They believe that it is crucial for trade in the region to be strengthened, especially now in the face of the global crisis that is afecting other markets such as the United States and Europe.