Costa Rica’s decision to join the Pacific Alliance, a trade bloc formed by Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia, this week prompted discussions that show private-sector groups are still divided on its potential benefits.
The total value of Costa Rican export goods fell by 15 percent last year, though most of that decline is attributed to the 2014 exit of chipmaker Intel.
Opposition leaders are questioning President Luis Guillermo Solís' large entourage for an upcoming trip to Cuba, calling it "political tourism" and a waste of public funds.
Tico coffee, a specific candy or a cookie brand: These are some of the Costa Rican products that Ticos living abroad frequently request from relatives or friends. So the Foreign Trade Promotion Office is using that loyalty to promote the opening of new export markets for local products.
Exports to China grew by an annual average of 7.6 percent between 2004 to 2014. Last year exports reached a total of $338.3 million, according to Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Ministry.
Many people in Costa Rica's rural areas still use heavy, wood-burning stoves. But they're now becoming a luxury item for preparing meals on special occasions, as well as a collector's item for vintage decoration.
Medical devices now lead national exports and showed a considerable 49.5 percent growth in the first two months of 2015 compared to the same time period last year.
Exports of Costa Rican beef to China increased by more than 700 percent in one year, according Leonardo Murillo, a livestock research coordinator at the Costa Rican Cattle Corporation.
Costa Rica will now be able to measure the impact of tourism in its national parks, thanks to innovative environmental technology from The NeverRest...
