Traders in Costa Rica and Panama are set to see tariffs fall and restrictions on imports and exports relax between the two countries now that their fresh free-trade agreement has taken effect.
News of the official implementation of the deal, signed Aug. 7 in San José, emerged last week on the Panamanian government’s bulletin, the Gaceta Oficial.
The start of the agreement also meant the end to a prior accord called the Treaty on Free-Trade and Preferential Treatment signed by both countries in June 1973.
Panama green-lighted free trade with Central America in 2002, signing a protocol that allows it to enter bilateral partnerships with other countries within the region as it did with El Salvador in 2004. Panama is also on track for free trade with Chile starting in March.
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