Costa Rica’s foreign trade minister pushes more trade in the United States

Foreign Trade Minister Anabel González arrived Wednesday in Washington, D.C. to meet with officials from the White House and the State Department as a follow-up to agreements reached during the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama in Costa Rica over the weekend.

González also will participate in a meeting with 230 business leaders from the continent, where she will present Costa Rica’s qualifications as an ideal place to invest.

“The meetings between [Costa Rican] President [Laura] Chinchilla and President Obama left significant results for Costa Rica, particularly in regards to the U.S. support for our aspirations to join the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] and to boost trade under CAFTA [the Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement],” González said.

In a meeting with some 200 Central American business leaders and students on Saturday in San José, Obama welcomed the country’s interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and instructed his technical staff to speed up discussions on negotiations with Costa Rican officials.

The TPP would facilitate closer trade ties, particular in production chains, for countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The trade agreement has the potential to unite one-third of the world’s gross domestic product under one agreement.