Assembly Approves Caribbean
Free-Trade Agreement
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net

The export taxes for 90% of the Costa Rican products exported to Caribbean countries will be eliminated, now that the Legislative Assembly has approved the free-trade agreement with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Officials from the Foreign Trade Ministry expressed satisfaction with the assembly's action, saying the agreement will open many new opportunities and benefit Costa Rica greatly.

“Basically, these are very interesting markets that have 15 million inhabitants and receive 5 million tourists,” said the recently sworn-in Vice-Minister of Trade Doris Osterlof. “These tourists demand services and food, and there we have a great opportunity, because these are small islands and cannot sustain themselves alone. They have to import.”

According to the Chamber of Industries, more than 200 Costa Rican businesses already export 711 products with a value of $190 million to the Caribbean market. The free-trade agreement removes tariffs on 90% of those products destined for any of the 11 signatory countries that have ratified it. Four percent of Costa Rican products have a waiting period of four years before tariffs will be removed, while 3.9% of products are excluded from the agreement altogether, according to the Trade Ministry.

The only CARICOM countries that have approved the agreement to date are Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. The agreement also awaits the signature of President Abel Pacheco and publication in the official government daily La Gaceta before it can take effect between Costa Rica and those countries.

Vice-President of the Chamber of Industries Giancarlos Musmanni told The Tico Times that small and medium business stand to benefit the most from the new agreement.

“They have economies of scale that adjust well to the small economies of these countries,” he said. “The economies are very complementary for Costa Rica because Costa Rica produces many goods that they don't.”

The countries that signed the agreement with Costa Rica are: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.