[dailyarchive/2005_01/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 20, 2005
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| AN OUNCE of Prevention: Medical technician Vera Rodríguez uses an EKG machine to evaluate the heart function of patient Cecilia Vega in Puente de los Anonos in Escazú yesterday. Rodríguez is among the employees of the private Laboratorio Raven who have visited Puente de los Anonos every Wednesday since September 2004 to offer free EKG tests to residents through the laboratory's outreach program, called Meditest International. The medical personnel have also traveled to Nicaragua and plan a visit to Pérez Zeledón, a Southern Zone region, in February. |
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Customs Union Moves Ahead –
Without Costa Rica?
Costa Rica appears to be lagging behind its neighbors in efforts to create a Central American Customs Union, since Honduras and Nicaragua seem poised to join Guatemala and El Salvador in eliminating immigration and customs regulations between their countries. According to Costa Rican Trade Minister Manuel González, however, negotiations over only a few products separate Costa Rica from the other nations.
(Click for more)
Ministry Orders Adoption or Death
For 54 Rescued Street Dogs
The fate of 54 rescued street dogs seems certain since the Ministry of Public Health sent an official notice yesterday – death or a return to the streets.
(Click for more)
February Conference Aims to
Strengthen Technology Exports
Costa Rican authorities in commerce and technology are looking to strengthen the country's world image as a producer and exporter of technological products in the conference “Costa Rica Insight 2005,” to take place Feb. 23-24 in San José.
(Click for more)
Alan Parsons to Perform
In Costa Rica
English singer-songwriter Alan Parsons, who worked with Pink Floyd and The Beatles, will perform in Costa Rica Feb. 6 as part of his “Live Project” Latin American tour.
(Click for more)
January 20
Mule Festival
Today through Jan. 30, the town of Parrita, just northwest of the central Pacific coastal town of Quepos, will host a festival including a mule and horse race, cowboy shows, truck races, a horse parade, concerts, dances, exhibits, food, rides and more. All the events are held at the Campo Ferial in downtown Parrita.
Poetry Recital for the Caribbean Zone
Loda García, journalist and poet, has organized a poetry recital to support the victims of the floods in Limón. Entrance fee is a non-perishable package of food. The activity is at 7 p.m. tonight, at Las Torres of the CENAC.
Edited By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Customs Union Moves Ahead –
Without Costa Rica?
By Katherine Stanley With EFE Reports
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Costa Rica appears to be lagging behind its neighbors in efforts to create a Central American Customs Union, since Honduras and Nicaragua seem poised to join Guatemala and El Salvador in eliminating immigration and customs regulations between their countries. According to Costa Rican Trade Minister Manuel González, however, negotiations over only a few products separate Costa Rica from the other nations.
González told The Tico Times on Tuesday that Costa Rica is working to simplify tariffs with its neighbors and that taxes on 94% of products have been completed.
“I'll be honest. The 6% that remain are the most difficult,” he said, but expressed confidence that the negotiations would come to a successful conclusion. He would not specify a date. The Customs Union has been in negotiation since 1996.
His remarks followed the announcement by Guatemalan President Oscar Berger that Honduras and Nicaragua will be incorporated into the existing union between El Salvador and Guatemala next month.
Nicaragua and Honduras “will be eliminating the bureaucratic processes of immigration and customs...they are completely prepared,” Berger said Monday during a meeting of the Guatemalan-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham).
He added that Costa Rica “moves ahead at its own pace,” but expressed optimism that “in the short term the five countries of the region will be completely integrated.”
An integrated Central America would “produce strategically and optimize production,” Berger said.
Honduran President Ricardo Maduro, president pro temp of the Central American Integration System (SICA), governance of which rotates between its member countries every six months, is in charge of the integration process.
According to Berger, Maduro has reactivated proposals such as Central American passports and region-wide capture orders.
One of the main issues being negotiated is the possibility of the elimination of borders between the countries. El Salvador and Guatemala have already taken this step. An old customs booth was symbolically destroyed on Nov. 15, 2004, to mark the free passage of people and merchandise between the two countries (TT, Nov. 19, 2004).
However, González said Costa Rica will not follow suit anytime soon.
“The border is very difficult,” he said. “We don't see it (being eliminated) in the short or longer term.”
He added Costa Rican authorities are working to make border crossings easier, although their hands are somewhat tied by budgetary restrictions. For example, the Foreign Trade Ministry has developed plans to increase hours at the Nicaraguan border at Peñas Blancas from 12 hours per day to 18 hours, but has not been able to hire the extra personnel needed for such a change because the Finance Ministry would not grant the extra funds.
González was thrown into the public spotlight this week when two high-profile resignations and one firing within his ministry caused proponents of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) to question the minister's ability to lobby successfully for the pact's approval in the Legislative Assembly.
(See Friday's print edition of The Tico Times for the full story on the Trade Ministry.)
Ministry Orders Adoption or Death
For 54 Rescued Street Dogs
By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
The fate of 54 rescued street dogs seems certain since the Ministry of Public Health sent an official notice yesterday – death or a return to the streets.
The notice was delivered to Patricia Artimaña, owner of a street-dog rescue operation in the remote Piedras Negras, near the farming town of Ciudad Colón, southwest of San José. She must reduce the number of dogs on her property to 30 or those that exceed the number will be put down. Yesterday she was given five days to comply, which means she must find homes for 54 of the 84 dogs in her care.
With the help of her lawyer, she is composing a letter to Health Minister Rocío Sáenz, explaining that she has made every attempt to comply with health standards, and the dogs are well cared for.
As a last resort, before officials come to exterminate them, she said she will have to release those that are not adopted onto the streets again.
Though they are well fed and have plenty of room to romp, the problem is the noise they make. A neighbor complained about the noise, she said, and now she is looking for homes for most of the dogs. She has cared for street dogs for three years in her spacious yard, a dog refuge she named El Arca de Noe (Noah's Arc).
She said she has invested heavily in the dogs – she hired a full time assistant to care for them while she's at work, built covered sleeping areas around her house, where “they live like kings,” she said, and pays ¢200,000 ($438) per month for food.
She also pays veterinary fees and had every dog fixed, but costs are often reduced by doctors willing to help.
To adopt a dog and save it from a life on the street, call Artimaña at 813-5118.
February Conference Aims to
Strengthen Technology Exports
Costa Rican authorities in commerce and technology are looking to strengthen the country's world image as a producer and exporter of technological products in the conference “Costa Rica Insight 2005,” to take place Feb. 23-24 in San José.
The Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER) and the Chamber of Information Technologies and Communication (CAMTIC) are organizing the activity for the second year in a row.
“The conference will have as its primary goal propelling Costa Rica as a country that exports technological knowledge and products,” said PROCOMER manager Martín Zúñiga in a press conference yesterday.
The convention will also serve to analyze world tendencies in communication technologies and information, exhibit products and technology services and offer financing to small businesses.
This financing will not be through loans, but rather through co-investment, in which businesses invest risk capital to support small and medium businesses, Zúñiga said.
Organizers said representatives from international companies including Intel, Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and GBM will attend, but expect 60% of software developers in attendance to be from Costa Rica.
In addition, representatives from the rest of Central America will participate in an effort to establish technology-exchange agreements between countries.
According to CAMTIC statistics, 78% of software developers in Central America and the Dominican Republic are in Costa Rica.
According to PROCOMER, 51% of total exports from Costa Rica last year were products based in technology, amounting to $3.17 billion.
The entity also said that in 2004, Costa Rica invested in the industry – which generated 15,000 direct jobs – 1.5% of the Gross Domestic Product ($315 million), but by 2010 that amount will increase to 3.5%.
– EFE
Alan Parsons to Perform
In Costa Rica
English singer-songwriter Alan Parsons, who worked with Pink Floyd and The Beatles, will perform in Costa Rica Feb. 6 as part of his “Live Project” Latin American tour.
The musician, whose concert will take place in the Melico Salazar Theater in San José, is considered a rock music legend because of the hit songs he has written and performed over the course of his 30-year career.
“It will be two hours of good rock...no lasers, no theatrical effects, but it's a good show with a good sound. We like to concentrate on music,” the singer said in a press release.
Parsons, 65, is also a producer and sound engineer, and plans to delight fans with his classic repertoire and most recent production, “A Valid Path.”
After Costa Rica, Parsons will travel to Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Mexico.
Tickets will be on sale starting Jan. 28 at Juan Banschbach Stores, Sharper Shop and Hipermás.
– EFE
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