A new report issued by the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) called Costa Rica one of the countries with the greatest advances in electrical production inthe region.

The advances are attributed to longterm planning and the constant construction of new power plants throughout the country, according to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).

According to the CEPAL report, since the end of the 1980s, the region’s energy providers have faced serious deficiencies. However, Costa Rica has continued to improve in terms of quality of service and total coverage.

At the start of the 1990s, Guatemala and Honduras had electrification rates of 33% and 38%, respectively. Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador’s electrification rates ranged from 47% and 59%. Costa Rica, on the other hand, had a 90% electrification rate.

Today, Costa Rica’s electrical grid reaches 97% of the country’s homes. Costa Rica was highlighted as an example in terms of electrical generation using renewable resources. The National Electrical System (SEN), which includes ICE, the National Power and Light Company (CNFL), regional public services companies and privately run electricity production cooperatives, currently produces 98% of its electricity using renewable resources, according to ICE.

The country was also congratulated for being self-sufficient in its electricity production as well as for being an innovator in the use of new technologies. Costa Rica is the region’s leader in the use of wind power. As of December 2003, the country’s wind power plants produced 62.25 megawatts of electricity, roughly 3.5% of the country’s total electrical output.

Costa Rica, which sells its electricity at cost, is the country with the lowest electricity prices in the region, the report stated.

THE remodeling of JuanSantamaríaInternationalAirport’s cargo terminal began last week. Once completed, the new terminal is expected to make it easier for exporters to transport their products from San José to other countries by air, the daily La República reported.

Given the importance the cargo terminal has for the export sector, Alterra Partners – the private group in charge of remodeling and operating the airport, plans to complete the remodeling by the end of March.

The remodeling of the cargo terminal entails rebuilding 5,120 meters and installing new lighting. The project will cost approximately ¢37 million ($880,000).

REAL Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) authorized by the Superintendence of Securities (SUGEVAL) last December possessed $226 million in assets – a 46% increase in assets over the last year, the daily La Nación reported.

REITs are publicly traded companies that buy and hold various kinds of housing, retail, or commercial projects, and obtain income mainly from renting the properties to companies or individual clients.

REITs work like other public companies – investors buy shares that entitle them to part of the company’s assets, as well as dividends from profits generated (TT, Oct. 3, 2003).

The number of people investing in Costa Rican REITs also grew from 1,690 in 2002 to 2,134 in 2003. The average investment rose from $91,861 to $105,982 in that period.

In Costa Rica, the minimum investment needed to buy shares in REITs ranges between $3,500 and $10,000. Private investment-fund administrators manage REITs.

According to Jaime Ubilla, general manager of Improsa SAFI, the sector is growing rapidly and competition is strong. On average, REITs offer 8% in annual dividends.

Arnoldo Ortíz, marketing manager for Interbolsa, says REITs are a solid investment because they are, for the most part, independent from other investment funds and economic indicators.

AN international team of NASA scientists arrived in Costa Rica Wednesday during the third day of an expedition to unearth archeological secrets in Central America.

The scientists are traveling aboard a DC-8 equipped with the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR), which can “see” beneath treetops, through thin sand and below dry snow pack. This technology will provide aerial visuals of what lies below the forests of Central America, possibly providing evidence of ancient roads and Pre-Columbian human existence in the region.

In addition to cultural research, the scientists are studying biological diversity in collaboration with the NationalCenter for High Technology (CENAT).

Although the DC-8 is equipped as a flying laboratory, the mission used the National Hanger of Aerotransportation Investigations at JuanSantamaríaAirport as a temporary base for the afternoon.

Welcoming the flight were NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe, Minister of Science and Technology Fernando Gutiérrez, CENAT director Dr. Pedro León, and U.S. Ambassador John Danilovich.

NASA has embarked on the journey in an effort to accurately inventory Central America’s environment and archeology before they are destroyed by current human activity, officials said.

AirSAR is able to detect features such as fortifications, causeways, walls and other evidence of advanced human civilizations not discovered in ground data collection because of difficulties penetrating the forest terrain. This information will be used to understand how humans have interacted with their landscape in the past and present, NASA officials said.

After studying Central America, NASA scientists will go to the ice fields of South America’s Patagonia region and Antarctica to study the effects of climate change.

CANADA’S State Minister for New and Emerging Markets, Gar Knutson, visited the country this week accompanied by representatives from more than 20 Canadian companies seeking a closer look at the trade and investment opportunities in Costa Rica and the rest of Central America.

“Prime Minister Paul Martin is committed to forging partnerships with other regions of the world,” Knutson said Wednesday during a luncheon organized by the Canadian Embassy and the Canadian-Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce (CanCham).

“As part of my mandate as Minister of State for New and Emerging Markets, Martin asked me to raise Canada’s profile in expanding and dynamic markets like Central America.

“And this is why I am here today with over 20 Canadian business delegates from small, medium and large companies, which are eager to introduce their goods, services, capital, people and knowledge to markets in Costa Rica and throughout Central America,” he explained.

THE visit was part of “Central American Circuit 2004” – a seven-day Canadian commercial mission to Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama organized by Canada’s Department of Foreign Relations and International Trade and the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service.

“We have never received a Canadian commercial mission of this size and importance,” said Louise Léger, Canadian Ambassador to Costa Rica.

Knutson highlighted the important role trade plays in the Canadian economy.

“We are here today in the interest of developing trade partnerships,” he explained. “Canada is a trading nation. In 2002, the export of goods and services represented more than 40% of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) – a figure that is approximately four times as much as those of the United States and Japan, making Canada the number one exporter in the G7.”

He stressed the role trade has played in strengthening Canada’s relationship with Central America and especially Costa Rica.

“Partnership through trade is what has brought us here today,” Knutson said. “Canada understands the importance of fostering this relationship and is committed to doing so.”

IN recent years, Canada has strived to develop strong permanent trade relations with Costa Rica and the rest of Central America.

“Two-way trade between Canada and Central America reached about $970 million in 2003, of which trade with Costa Rica accounted for more than a third,” Knutson said.

In 2002, Costa Rica and Canada began negotiating a bilateral trade agreement –the first in the Western Hemisphere between a G7 country and a developing country. The free-trade agreement was signed on April 23, 2001, and went into effect on Nov. 1, 2002. Since then, trade and investment between both countries has continued to grow.

“The goal of today’s activity is not just to hold meetings between business leaders from both countries, but to celebrate the free-trade agreement our countries have signed,” Léger explained. “Trade between both countries is growing and so is investment.

The free-trade agreement has been a great success.”

Canada has attempted to recreate its experiment with Costa Rica by negotiating a free-trade agreement with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

However, the negotiations, which began on Nov. 21, 2002, fell into a stalemate after a negotiating meeting held last month in the Canadian capital of Ottawa (TT, Feb. 27).

TWO-WAY trade between Costa Rica and Canada grew 61% between 2001 and 2003, increasing from $161.2 million to $259.1 million, according to Costa Rica’s Foreign Trade Vice-Minister Gabriela Llobet.

During 2003 – the first full year after the agreement went into effect – Costa Rica exported $194.1 million to Canada – 23.9% more than during 2002.

Costa Rica maintains a large trade surplus with Canada, which exported $44 million to the country last year (TT, Feb. 27) according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

Llobet’s numbers were more optimistic than PROCOMER’s. She estimated exports in 2003, including services, totaled $210 million and had grown over the last year by as much as 34.4%.

“This means that for every dollar Canada exports to Costa Rica, Costa Rica exports slightly more than $4 to Canada,” Llobet said.

Agricultural products make up 60% of the country’s exports to Canada. The main agricultural exports to Canada are bananas, pineapples, sugarcane, melons, green coffee beans, heart of palm and flowers (in that order). Top industrial exports are computer integrated circuits, needles, syringes and other medical equipment (in that order). Recently, the country also began exporting jams and mini-vegetables, Llobet said.

Canada’s main exports to Costa Rica are press paper, potassium chloride, paper for sacks and nylon-textured threads, according to PROCOMER.

CANADIAN foreign direct investment (FDI) in Costa Rica has also grown dramatically in the years since the reciprocal protection and promotion of investments agreement both countries signed went into effect on May 25, 1999.

Canada is the country’s third-largest provider of FDI after the United States and Mexico, according to Llobet. Between 1995 and 2003, Canadian companies invested $126 million in the country. Last year, Canadian-based firms invested $16 million.

“Trade is only one aspect of our relationship,” Knutson said. “Canadians are demonstrating they understand the benefits of investing in Costa Rica and throughout the region.”

During his speech, Knutson made a quick recount of the main Canadian firms that have invested here. Among the firms he mentioned were Air Canada, which last December began direct flights between Juan Santamaría International Airport and Toronto (TT, Dec. 5, 2003), the Four Seasons hotel chain, which in January opened a luxury beach resort on the Gulf of Papagayo in the northwest province of Guanacaste (TT, Jan. 23), SNC-Lavalin, the firm that was awarded the concession to build and operate a highway connecting San José to the Pacific shipping port of Caldera (TT, Jan. 23) and Glencairn Gold Corporation, which is funding a gold mining operation in the Central Pacific region of Miramar (TT, Jan. 30).

“Canadian companies are not just good partners, they are responsible partners,” Knutson said. “Promoting corporate social responsibility is an important element of the Canadian government’s approach to promoting international trade and investment. By operating in a socially responsible manner, Canadian companies contribute positively to the communities in which they operate.”

MEMBERS of the mission praised the country.

“Costa Rica is very proactive and one of the strongest countries in the region, in terms of attracting trade and investment,” said Robert Daignault, chairman of the board of Cogenergy, a company specializing in the generation of electricity from the clean disposal of waste products.

Daignault stressed the importance of commercial meetings and business summits.

“These particular missions bring a level of awareness between the commercial sector of both countries of the opportunities available. It’s an opportunity to exchange ideas and information about products, services and technologies that are available,” he said.

FUELED by higher education, health care and food costs, Costa Rica registered a monthly inflation of 1.29% in February.

Inflation for the first two months of this year was 3.02%, the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC) reported Monday.

Inflation for the first two months of 2003 was 1.47%. Inflation over the last 12 months was reported at 11.55%, making it appear difficult for the country to meet the Central Bank’s target inflation rate of less than 10% in 2004 (TT, Jan. 16). Annual inflation in 2003 was 9.87%.

DELTA Air Lines, the airline that pioneered regularly scheduled international flights to Liberia’s DanielOduberInternationalAirport in the northwestern Guanacaste province, is showing no sign of slowing down.

Next month, Delta will add an additional weekly flight between Liberia and Atlanta’s HartsfieldInternationalAirport, raising its number of weekly flights to six.

The airline is also planning to continue expanding throughout Latin America, a region it says is full of potential.

“Given the crisis the [airline] industry underwent following the Sept. 11 (2001) terrorist attacks and other events, Delta was forced to settle on a strategy of survival,” said Jorge Fernández, Delta’s director for Latin America and Caribbean.

“The outlook is very different now. We see Latin America as a profitable unit where we can grow. We’ve gone from an outlook of survival to one of growth,” he told The Tico Times.

THE gamble Delta took when it decided to begin regular flights to Liberia in December 2002 has paid off. Since then, the flights have had an average occupancy rate of 75%. More recently, with the start of the tourism high season, the occupancy rate has risen to well above 85%, Fernández said.

Delta proved Liberia could be a successful and profitable destination for a major airline. Months after the flight began, American Airlines and Continental Airlines announced they would begin nonstop service to Daniel Oduber from Miami and Houston, respectively.

Fernández said the airline is not worried about the increased competition. Delta is confident its vast network of connecting flights throughout the East Coast of the United States and Europe (Delta says it is the leading U.S. airline in transatlantic flights) will continue to provide the steady stream of tourists necessary to make Liberia flights successful and profitable, he explained.

TO thank Delta for taking the risk, the Liberia Chamber of Tourism (CALITUR) held a series of activities last Saturday honoring the airline and Chris Floistad, general manager of international network analysis for Delta and the person who had the final say in creating a permanent Liberia route.

CALITUR treated Delta executives to a guided tour of Liberia, during which the AscensionEsquivelElementary School and the Liberia Soccer Club honored Floistad for contributing to the community’s development.

Afterward, Delta personnel were taken to Rancho Chácara, a new tourism complex featuring traditional Guanacaste bull riding and typical Tico food.

“A year after Delta began flying to Liberia, the impact has been overwhelmingly positive,” said CALITUR president Pedro Muñoz.

“It’s only just beginning. Delta’s flights have forced Liberians to get moving. We have to ponernos las pilas to make the most of the new opportunities that are coming to the region,” Muñoz said.

Liberia Mayor Ricardo Samper was equally grateful.

“Thank you very much,” Samper told Delta representatives. “You have helped revolutionize this town.”

DELTA executives said they were honored by the warm welcome they received from the WhiteCity, so named after the limestone used to build many of the town’s original roads and buildings.

“Delta wanted to open a new market, a Costa Rican market,” Floistad said. “This community makes us proud of what we have done as pioneers of flights to Guanacaste. We look forward to many years ahead for the successful partnership between Guanacaste and Delta.”

Fernández said he firmly believes the future of the Delta-Guanacaste partnership will be a bright one.

“Our decision to begin flying into Liberia was part of Delta’s philosophy toward Latin America,” he explained. He attributed most of the flight’s success to local hotel and business owners who, from the very beginning, played a key role in convincing the airline to consider Liberia.

“To succeed, it’s important to identify a mutual interest. We wanted to share the region with the rest of the world, to build a bridge. We believe in Guanacaste’s vision of development. We have established a partnership with Guanacaste that will benefit the region,” he said.

FERNÁNDEZ said he is optimistic about tourism in Guanacaste and Costa Rica in general.

“There’s a lot of competition between tourist destinations,” he said. “When people in the United States turn on their televisions Saturday morning, they are bombarded with ads from the different destinations. Despite this, people choose Costa Rica. The country has done a phenomenal job of promoting itself.”

He said the country’s unique relation with the environment is the differentiating element that makes Costa Rica stand out in the highly competitive tourism market.

“Tourists who come to Costa Rica usually think of nature,” he said. “When you ask people about the Caribbean, they say beach and sun. When you ask them about Cancún, they say beach, sun and parties.

“But when you ask them about Costa Rica, they say many things – jungle, volcanoes, adventure tourism, national parks, deep sea fishing – in addition to beach and sun,” he explained.

TO make the most of the new flights, Fernández stressed the need improve the DanielOduberInternationalAirport so it can better handle the region’s growing tourism and export markets.

“We ask two things of Guanacaste,” he said. “It must maintain solid airport infrastructure that guarantees the security and safety of travelers, which is part of what we consider customer service.

“Significant improvements are also required in cargo,” he added. “Improved handling of cargo would create a valuable opportunity for the region’s perishable exports, such as tilapia fish, which is quickly earning a name for itself in foreign markets.”

He also called on the growing U.S. and European expatriate community in Guanacaste to take part in the region’s partnership with Delta.

Delta wants to make sure these residents know that its flights can provide a valuable connection allowing them to keep in touch with friends, families and businesses back home, he said.

SINCE 1996, Noel Payne’s business Comercio Alternativo has sought the often small and nascent organic farms of Costa Rica and roped many of them into its fold for distribution.

Payne’s business began as a retail store and made the transition to a delivery service over the Christmas holiday last year.

It now delivers fresh organic produce, fertilizers, dairy, juice, wine and personalcare products, among others, to wholesalers and residents.

In November 2002 the company was selected as one of five finalists among 40 competitors in the New Ventures program of the World Resources Institute, one of the largest conservation organizations in the United States.

THAT honor placed Comercio Alternativo in the limelight for investors and philanthropists, but, Payne said, not much came out it because U.S. investors’ attention shifted to Eastern Europe amidst talk of that region being integrated into the European Union.

Another of her accolades is the camera of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), which filmed Payne’s move to the delivery service and the founding of her company’s presence on the Internet. The story will be aired in the Get a New Life series that documents the adventures of Brits abroad.

Though still under construction, the Web site lists Payne’s extensive inventory of products and classifies them according to the ways in which they were produced.

CATEGORIES include products grown in certified, chemical-free soil that comply with certified organic standards; those that are in transition, which generally means the farms have not been organic for the three years required by certification agencies, and those which, according to Comercio Alternativo’s criteria, are people-and environment-friendly.

In response to the deluge of questions she has fielded over the years, the Internet site also lists products in English and Spanish and will soon outline the process of obtaining organic certification.

Customers register with the company, pay a deposit and collect the products they order each week at fixed drop-off spots, or they can arrange for special deliveries.

DROP-OFF points are in Moravia, Heredia and Cariari on Tuesdays, and Escazú, Santa Ana and Piedades on Thursdays.

Once the Web site is fully functional, customers will be able to place orders online. Now they can place their orders by e-mail, fax or phone.

Though its product list is long and varied, the company issues the caveat that the organic movement in Costa Rica is young and the obstacle of delivering small amounts of produce to one central distribution point is sometimes difficult to surmount – so, the list is subject to availability, something that can be discussed while placing the orders, or checked online.

SOME of the company’s bigger clients include Pacha Mama in Guanacaste, Tin Jo restaurant in San José, Finca Rosa Blanca in Santa Bárbara de Heredia, and the Pura Vida and Lapa Ríos hotels.

Payne hosts consumer meetings every two months as an opportunity for environmentally and health-conscious eaters to meet each other.

She also plans to organize organic farm visits through her Consumer Education Program, and said she would like to create an organic consumers’ organization as a kind of megaphone for the voice of the healthy eater and a collective defense of consumers’ rights.

For info, see Comercio Alternativo’s site at www.comercioalternativo.com, email: info@comercioalternativo.com, or call 253-5507 or 393-5314.

MORE Costa Ricans are lathering their heads with organic products and lowering their consumption of pesticides thanks to the success of Bioland’s organic and natural foods and beauty products.

Shoppers can find all-natural, additive and preservative-free Bioland products, such as organic prickly pear hair conditioner and whole-wheat sesame nacho chips, often with significant amounts of organic ingredients, in almost every supermarket in Costa Rica.

The company offers nearly 200 packaged snacks, grains and other foods and more than 90 personal-care products, including, for example, organic wild indigo anti-dandruff shampoo and organic carrot tanning oil, and all at accessible prices.

A sample of Bioland products found at Más x Menos supermarkets includes a 370-milliliter bottle of organic chamomile shampoo for ¢1,159 ($2.75) and a 250-gram package of whole-wheat cookies with carob chips for ¢484 ($1.15).

WHEN Costa Rica’s organic foods scene was limited to displays in small shops and farmers’ markets more than 20 years ago, Bioland’s forebear, Diproma, a macrobiotic products distributor, became the first natural products industry in the country.

Three years ago, it adopted the name Bioland and began to export its goods throughout Central America, as well as Europe, Japan, Taiwan and the United States. There is no secret ingredient to Bioland’s success, said the company’s owner, Gustavo Hampl.

“Everything is based on hard work,” Hampl said. “We are willing to make profits through the implementation of a certain philosophy.

There is a firm ideological frame of action within which we work, and what we do does not overstep that creed.”

HE said Bioland encourages local producers to become certified in organic agriculture.

Though the company buys some ingredients from abroad, it tries to patronize local farms whenever possible.

If a certain food would be cheaper to produce locally but is not available without pesticides and chemical fertilizers, Hampl and company work with the owners of small farms to convert to certified suppliers of organic produce.

To date, seven farms have traded in their fumigation pumps for compost heaps and now sell their organic produce to Bioland.

“The modern business is largely profit-oriented,” Hampl said. “We make money without passing the barrier that we place before ourselves. While others earn as much as possible while remaining within the limits of the laws of the state, we create our own laws.”

A large part of the company’s motivation is concern for the natural world. Its bilingual Web site (www.bio-land.org) warns about the “asphyxiating situation” created by over-population, consumerism, “fierce industrial competition,” and the mesmerizing effect of advertising on the human psyche.

Then it outlines the company’s mission: “Bioland represents the real commitment to work for a land full of life. Bioland promotes biological and organic agriculture, the recovery of natural and traditional industrial practices, as well as the use of cleaner and ecological commercial procedures, respecting the health of human beings and their environment.”

Besides the products it offers, the company respects its own ideology within its office walls. It has an extensive paperrecycling program, and teaches employees to reduce waste and recycle both in the office and at home.

THE Bioland Siembra program donates ¢5 ($0.01) of every purchase to a tree-planting project, which plants mostly native species within and around San José, and lists every tree they have planted, including the date and location, on the Web site.

The site also offers recipes for vegetarian and healthy foods, such as vegetarian empanadas made with Bioland textured soy, and sesame spaghetti.

“Our idea is to create a model for the business of the future,” Hampl said. “We consider the consumer a human being, not a number or a monthly statistic. The health of the client is a benefit to everyone – we benefit the future of our children.”

THE first major reggae event of this year, Reggae Roots at the Polideportivo Monserrat in Alajuela, was a smashing success, as more than 40,000 fans were able to feel the rhythm of this music in their veins Feb. 21.

Fans, who were lined up patiently since before the sun came out, were duly rewarded when the gates opened precisely at noon and to everyone’s surprise, the concert started on time! Security was said to be tight. Upon arrival, however, I found this to not be the case. Though I entered with absolutely nothing, I saw other people enter with knapsacks, which security personnel didn’t even open. A brief feel was enough, apparently.

The surprise opening act was a local hip-hop dance group. Next on stage was the Tappa Tap Kru (Banton, Toledo and Kike), then Radicales (Tapon, H-uba and Ghetto) and, to close the local segment, the renowned roots group, Mekatelyu. Opening the international segment was

from Jamaica, followed by more Spanish reggae from Los Cafres from Argentina. Then the Big Act, the sole reason I went to the concert.

T.O.K. – also from Jamaica – for the first time ever in Costa Rica, came out on stage. For a little more than an hour, these four young black men with shoulder-length locks, dressed in white shirts and black striped sweatpants had the crowd jumping and shouting and waving madly whatever they could find.

At this point, people in the crowd started throwing what appeared to be empty plastic water bottles in the air, which sort of looked cool as they floated and danced about in the evening wind. To my horror I was informed later that not all the bottles flying around were actually empty. Some of them still contained liquid, and apparently some of them had even been maliciously filled with dirt, which obviously created a safety hazard.

The lack of oversized football and basketball jerseys, baggy pants and brandname footwear was unusual. In a crowd I assumed to be mostly dancehall fans, everyone was dressed for a day in the park.

HALFWAY through the concert, before the Jamaicans held the mics, more than 30,000 bottles of water alone had already been consumed, and the food stands had completely run out of beverages and had to send for more.

The concert finished around 8 p.m., after Buju Banton, another Jamaican, had spent approximately an hour and a half on stage. By this time the crowd was weary, and he didn’t get as much response as the previous group, though he is the more famous of the two. This too was because his presentation contained various songs that a large percentage of the audience seemed not familiar with.

Upcoming events include a concert by Sean Paul on March 20. For more info call 253-9696.