C.R. Hoping to Play Big Role in
Upcoming WTO Summit
By Fabián Borges
fborges@ticotimes.net

Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Ministry announced this week that it hopes to play an active role in the Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) next week in Cancún, Mexico.

According to the Ministry, Costa Rica will lobby for tariff reductions on agricultural and industrial imports, push for an end to import quotas and the elimination of government export subsidies, and advocate for the creation of rules to regulate international trade in services such as tourism and software.

"The gradual evolution of the multilateral trade system has been very beneficial for Costa Rica," Foreign Trade Vice-Minister Gabriela Llobet said. "It's helped define a series of clear and transparent rules to govern international trade and has helped increase our access to foreign markets."

Costa Rican delegates will participate in most of the issues scheduled for negotiation in Cancún, including agriculture, market access for non-agricultural (mainly industrial and textile) products, services, trade dispute settlement, investment, electronic commerce, and implementation of agreements.

"For its size, Costa Rica has played a disproportionately large role in the WTO," Llobet explained. "The country has a well-prepared team working full-time in Geneva. Our voice has definitely been heard. We've acted constructively and actively, forming strategic alliances with other countries to further promote our commercial interests."

According to Llobet, Costa Rica is going to Cancún with three main objectives: negotiate increased access for its export products, strengthen international trade rules and laws, and continue implementation of the "Singapore Agenda" - a set of investment regulations, competitivity policy, transparency in government procurement of goods and services, and trade facilitation.

The country will take part in the debate to update and strengthen the WTO's dispute settlement mechanisms.

Costa Rica is in favor of clearly defining the role of third-party countries interested in participating in international disputes, as well as increasing the Dispute Settlement Body's power to monitor and enforce compliance with its rulings.

The delegation will also back proposals to strengthen anti-dumping regulations -- norms that prohibit foreign companies from selling their products at a lower price internationally than in their home country to drive local companies out of business and establish an illegal monopoly.

Costa Rica is also against imposing additional barriers to limit the sector's growth of electronic commerce. Costa Rica is firmly against charging taxes on international electronic transactions, purchases and information flows.

"We hope definite agreements will be reached on the issues that are of most interest to Costa Rica," Llobet said. "Significant advances on these issues from a multilateral perspective could help us in future bilateral and regional trade negotiations.

"This meeting will likely be difficult and complex," she predicted. "That is to be expected when 140 different countries attempt to reach a consensus."

Not everyone is as optimistic about the Cancún summit as the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX). For the last month, socialist university groups have been organizing anti-WTO information campaigns and are planning a series of rallies and demonstrations next week.

Consumer advocacy groups are also strongly opposed to the Cancún agenda which, in their opinion, focuses only on protecting the rights of producers and not consumers, which constitute the majority of the country's population.