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Central
America Security Commission New
Book Commemorates Costa Rican
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More Families Read TT Daily News Page for Orosí updates, and this Friday’s TT print edition for complete coverage Central
America Security Commission The
region’s Foreign, Security and Defense Vice-Ministers met in San José
last week for the XXV meeting of the Central American Security Commission.
A wide range of topics affecting the region were discussed, including
landmines, weapon trafficking, tourist safety, terrorism, community
police, and the Central American Democratic Security Treaty. The
representatives were pleased with regional efforts to reduce the number of
landmines. “Each country affected has developed programs to cleanup
their mines, and all have had successful results,” Costa Rican Foreign
Vice-Minister Elayne Whyte explained. Officials
discussed solutions to the illegal trafficking problem caused by weapons
left unaccounted for after the end of region’s civil wars in the 1980s.
An increasing number of these weapons have wound up in the hands of
criminals. A regional law-enforcement project to deal with this issue is
in the planning stages. On
the issue of crime prevention, Costa Rican representatives shared the
country’s experiences with the Community Police Program. The program has
had successful results, preventing crime by developing strong ties between
local communities and the police. The
representatives also discussed what the Central American Democratic
Security would mean for the region’s non-militarized nations, Costa Rica
and Panama. “It
needs to be understood that Central America has two different security
strategies – one involves demilitarized countries and the other
countries with armed forces,” Whyte explained. “Costa Rica and
Panama’s decision not to provide reserves in case of a regional conflict
needs to be respected in the treaty.” The
representatives concluded that tourist safety should be a main priority,
and needs to be discussed at length during the next Security Commission
Meeting Nov. 29 in San José. The meeting will analyze the Central America
Tourism Council’s proposals to open a regional 1-800 tourism assistance
hotline, create a tourism police and fight sexual tourism and the abuse
of minors. Tourism is also slated to be the main discussion topic during the next Central American Presidents’ Summit in December. New
Book Commemorates Costa Rican As part of this year’s celebration of
150 years of diplomatic relations between Costa Rica and The Netherlands,
both countries have published a special book commemorating the history of
relations between both countries. The book, written in both Spanish and
Dutch, was a joint effort between the Dutch Embassy and the Manuel María
Peralta Institute of the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry. Costa Rican
Chancellor Roberto Tovar and Dutch Ambassador to Costa Rica Wim Wessels
attended the book presentation. At the event, Tovar noted that the
countries share many of the same values – democracy, human rights,
respect for international law, and commitment to sustainable development. Wessels reaffirmed The Netherlands’
commitment to assisting Costa Rica in its efforts to promote regional
integration in Central America through the Puebla-Panama Plan, the
Americas Free-Trade Agreement and the potential free-trade agreement with
the U.S. Relations between the two countries began in 1852 with the signing of a Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty in Washington D.C. Today, The Netherlands is Europe’s leading importer of Tico goods, buying more than 30 percent of the country’s export products.
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