Costa Rica-Panama trade pact to take effect in November
A free-trade agreement between Panama and Costa Rica will take effect next month, and tariffs will drop beginning in January, the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX) announced Friday after a visit by Panamanian President Martín Torrijos.
The treaty, signed in August 2007 and ratified by the Legislative Assembly earlier this month, will allow 91 percent of Costa Rican exports to Panama to cross the border duty-free immediately. With a few exceptions, the remaining products will lose their tariffs over three to 17 years. The treaty also allows the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) to offer services in Panama, exempting ICE from laws restricting other state telecom providers.
“The best way to protect people from the inevitable fluctuations in the economy is to open our markets and diversify our production,” President Oscar Arias said at a press conference Friday with Torrijos. “We respond to fear and desperation with more free-trade agreements, more foreign investment and more incentives for the products we export.”
In other news, Torrijos said he may call on Central American countries for technical help on a $5.25 billion project to expand the Panama Canal. Still, he added, the state would fill as many jobs as possible using Panamanian labor.
You may be interested

Surge in young migrant border arrivals poses challenge for United States
Laura BONILLA / AFP - March 6, 2021Thousands of minors without papers are arriving at the US border with Mexico, presenting President Joe Biden with a potentially…

Six arrested in Costa Rica with 1.1 metric tons of cocaine
AFP and The Tico Times - March 6, 2021Costa Rican authorities seized 1.1 metric tons of cocaine and detained six men — four Colombians and two Costa Ricans…

One year after first case, Costa Rica to broadcast Covid memorial
The Tico Times - March 5, 2021Costa Rica confirmed its first coronavirus case on March 6, 2020. By the end of the month, the country had…