The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 26, 2004

TEARY-EYED conclusion: Costa Rican head negotiator Anabel González (second from left) reacted emotionally to the announcement of the end of free-trade negotiations between the United States and Costa Rica. Foreign Trade Minister Alberto Trejos (left) and the rest of the negotiating team rejoiced.
Carol Uriza/Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX)

Costa Rica Successfully Finishes
Free-Trade Negotiations with U.S.
Costa Rica successfully concluded bilateral trade talks with the United States - shortly after noon Eastern Standard Time yesterday following seven straight days of heated negotiations - and joined Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua in the U.S.-Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
(Click for more)

January 26

Trip to Pájaros Island and Palo Verde National Park
Register today to participate in the bird-watching tour organized by the Organization for Tropical Studies. Departs Jan. 31 at 6 a.m. and returns the following day at 8 p.m. Trip includes transportation, some meals, lodging and guidance by an expert an ornithologist. Info: Eduardo Esquivel or Ronald Rodríguez, 236-1713, 377-6169, fax 240-6783.

Classes at Universidad Nacional
Learn how to play a musical instrument, how to sing, practice some martial arts or another sport, or learn how to dance at the upcoming community classes offered by the Universidad Nacional in Heredia. Register this week. Info: Departamento de Promoción Estudiantil, 277-3200, 277-3201, 277-3202, 277-3239.

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Costa Rica Successfully Finishes
Free-Trade Negotiations with U.S.
By Fabián Borges
fborges@ticotimes.net

ALL SMILES: Foreign Trade Minister Alberto Trejos and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said they were pleased to conclude CAFTA talks.
Carol Uriza/Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX)

Costa Rica successfully concluded bilateral trade talks with the United States - shortly after noon Eastern Standard Time yesterday following seven straight days of heated negotiations - and joined Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua in the U.S.-Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The final agreement calls for the partial opening of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute's telecommunications monopoly by 2007. It also calls for the complete opening of the National Insurance Institute's insurance monopoly by 2011.

"In the name of the Government of Costa Rica and the President of the Republic [Abel Pacheco], it pleases me to announce the conclusion of negotiations in the free-trade agreement with the United States," said a visibly tired Foreign Trade Minister Alberto Trejos. "We have reached a very good agreement. We have found the balance we were looking for."

The bilateral meetings were part of an effort by both countries to include Costa Rica in CAFTA. Following the ninth round of formal negotiations on Dec. 17, the United States concluded negotiations with the four other Central American countries. Costa Rica, which took part in the negotiations, backed out at the last minute, requesting more time to negotiate unresolved issues.

Both countries agreed to continue bilateral meetings in January to resolve remaining issues. The first of those meetings was held Jan. 5-9 in Washington D.C. The second round of bilateral meetings, which concluded yesterday, began last Monday and originally were scheduled to conclude on Friday.

Disagreement over the treatment of the "most sensitive" of sensitive agricultural products (rice, sugar, potatoes, onions, chicken and pork) within CAFTA (TT, Dec. 19, 24, 2003; Jan. 9, 16) delayed the end of the negotiations until yesterday.

"The results achieved correspond fully with the objectives and goals that were defined to consolidate and extend our economic relations with the U.S., as a means to foster economic growth, development and better living standards for Costa Ricans," said head Costa Rican negotiator Anabel González.

In agriculture, it was agreed that Costa Rican potatoes and onions would be excluded from CAFTA.

Costa Rica succeeded in increasing its sugar export quota to the U.S. by 86% compared to the quota it receives under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. The quota will grow by 2% each year and includes a provision for organic sugar exports.

In beef, the country secured a yearly 10,300 metric-ton duty-free quota, which will increase by 5% each year. Costa Rican beef exports will enter the United States duty-free in 15 years. The country also received a 31-million-gallon duty-free quota to export ethanol to the U.S.

The biggest agricultural concession to the U.S. was rice. Costa Rica agreed to allow a yearly 50,000-metric-ton duty-free quota, which will increase by 2% each year, to enter the country under CAFTA. Rice will be fully liberalized 20 years after the treaty is implemented.

In textiles, the country was granted a 500,000-square-meter Tariff Preference Level -- a type of quota -- for products using wool imported from outside CAFTA that can be exported duty-free.

A definite agreement on the partial opening of the Costa Rican telecommunications market - broadband Internet, cellular phone service and private data networks - to private competition and the reforms necessary to make this possible also was reached.

In terms of legislation and reforms, Costa Rica committed itself to approving a law aimed at modernizing and strengthening the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute by Dec. 31, 2004. The country will also be required to draft and implement "modern legislation" to regulate the sector, including the creation of an independent regulatory authority for telecom services by Jan. 1, 2006.

Costa Rica agreed to open Internet services and private data networks to private competition by Jan. 1, 2006. Cellular telephone service must be opened by Jan. 1, 2007.

In insurance, Costa Rica agreed to the completely open the sector, including mandatory insurance policies, by no later than 2011. The agreement reached, according to the Foreign Trade Ministry, will not affect mandatory payments to the Social Security System (Caja), and calls for the creation of an independent regulatory authority for insurance services.

Immediately after CAFTA goes into effect, the purchase of insurance policies based in foreign countries by Costa Rican residents and the sale of cross-border (shipping and aerial transport) insurance by private carriers will be legalized.

Costa Rica will be required to allow foreign companies to sell all types of insurance, except mandatory insurance policies, in the country by Jan. 1, 2008. Mandatory insurance will be opened to competition no later than Jan. 1, 2011.

"CAFTA will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening the historic relation of friendship between the two oldest democracies in the hemisphere by extending their economic and cultural ties," Trejos concluded.

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Forest Plantations See
Success with Native Trees

A successful forest plantation trial begun nearly two decades ago in Costa Rica has gone from using almost exclusively outside species to native trees, promising to restore tropical forests rich in biodiversity destroyed by man.

Financed by the National Science Fund in the United States, Costa Rican investigators along with forest ecologists from the University of Iowa are experimenting with models of tree plantations started in 1986 in the La Selva biological center.

La Selva is a renowned center of investigation and study, owned by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), located in an Atlantic humid tropical forest zone in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, in the northern province of Heredia.

The plantations began with funding from Canada and one of the objectives was to identify the native species best-suited for reforestation, said Eugenio González, a Costa Rican expert in genetic forest engineering in charge of the project.

"They studied 86 species and took a list of those that gave a better yield in plantation conditions, which was one of the best contributions OTS has made, because we now take the lead in forest investigation that in that time did not exist," González said.

Previously, 70% of the trees in the plantations were foreign species and only the rest were native. Today, that percentage has been inverted, according to the center.

Native species have turned out to be very successful in the production of wood, and some trees only 15 years old are now 35 meters tall and 35 centimeters wide, which González called "something exceptional."

Among the species especially successful in wood production are pilón (Hyeronima lachornoides), fruta dorada (Virola koschnyii), roble coral (Buchenavia costaricensis) and botarama (Vochysia ferruginea). All of these can be found in forests in the country, but their potential in plantations was not previously known.

González said the cultivation of foreign species presents as many advantages as it does disadvantages, but native trees have in their favor, besides the production of wood, defined roles in ecosystems and the regeneration of soil - aspects that were the precise objects of the investigation.

In the next stage of the study, investigators will try to determine "why these species work so well," and, in the long term, how the plantations will convert to forests.

"What we are doing today…is determining if in the long term a forest plantation could be considered a forest or very close to a native forest," González said.

The results in La Selva have transcended Costa Rica and the techniques are being applied in Perú and Ecuador. González said "the idea was precisely that the results would be applicable internationally."
-- AFP

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Ex-President Figueres to Judge
$1-Million Sustainability Prize

Former Costa Rican President Jose María Figueres will chair the panel of judges for a newly created $1-million annual prize for outstanding contributions to sustainability from non-profits.

Alcan Inc., a leading aluminum packaging and recycling company, recently announced the new prize at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Figueres, Co-CEO of the Forum, is one of a panel of judges selected for exemplary work in promoting sustainability.

All non-profit, non-governmental organizations that make "significant contributions that integrate economic, environmental and social sustainability," are eligible for the prize, Alcan said in a statement.

"A key reason I agreed to chair the first Alcan Prize for Sustainability panel is my strong belief in the importance of creating links between the different actors often in different sectors, who are working in various areas of sustainable development," Figueres said.

"This prize links two key actors who are instrumental in creating successful sustainable development: business and not-for-profit organizations. As the Co-CEO of the World Economic Forum, an organization that promotes multi-stakeholder dialogue and action on global issues, I strongly support and encourage the Alcan award," he added.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005