Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 07, 2005
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Costa Rica Prepared to Make
Its Case In Banana Dispute
Foreign Trade Minister Manuel González and Jorge Sauma, president of the Costa Rican Banana Corporation (CORBANA), announced yesterday that Costa Rica is prepared to make its case before the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the ongoing dispute with the European Union regarding its import tariffs on Latin American bananas.
(Click for more)
JW Marriott to Build
Hotel in Guanacaste
The Salvadoran group Roble Internacional will be constructing a brand-new luxury JW Marriott hotel on the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, with completion expected by the end of 2007, an official source from the project told reporters yesterday.
(Click for more)
Business Leaders From Throughout
Americas to Meet in Costa Rica
Business executives from 186 companies in the Americas will visit Costa Rica during the first week in November to look for business opportunities during the VII Buyer's Mission organized by the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).
(Click for more)
Train Begins
Weekday Runs
The San José train, originally scheduled to begin its weekday runs at the end of September, picked up its first passengers this morning at 5:08 a.m. Its passengers today included President Abel Pacheco and a host of enthusiastic community members.
(Click for more)
October 07
Concert by Christina Gutierrez
Gutierrez performs songs by recognized female singers, Oct. 7, 9 p.m., El Observatorio, Barrio La California . Info: 223-0725.
Dance Show “15 Eyes, 8 Points of View”
Oct. 7, 8 p.m.; Oct. 8, 5 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, C.R.-North American Cultural Center. Info: 277-3393, 277-3394.
La Mujer que Cayó del Cielo
Play about an indigenous woman, Oct. 7-9, 8 p.m., Teatro de Bellas Artes, University of Costa Rica, San Pedro Campus.
Edited By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
Costa Rica Prepared to Make
Its Case In Banana Dispute
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
Foreign Trade Minister Manuel González and Jorge Sauma, president of the Costa Rican Banana Corporation (CORBANA), announced yesterday that Costa Rica is prepared to make its case before the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the ongoing dispute with the European Union regarding its import tariffs on Latin American bananas.
Representatives from Costa Rica and other Latin American banana-producing nations have an audience before the WTO Oct. 19 during which they will argue that the tariff proposed by the European Union of 187 euros ($230) per ton of bananas imported from Latin America would prohibit the producers from maintaining the same access to the European markets that they currently have. The current system is a combination of quotas and a tariff of 75 euros ($92) per ton of bananas, González explained.
The audience will also include representatives from the European Union and from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries; the latter group will be attending as interested third parties. Increased tariffs on Latin American bananas would give ACP countries a strong advantage in the European market.
The European Union, which is planning a transition from its current, quota-based system, which expires Dec. 21, to a tariff-only system, originally proposed raising the tariff to 230 euros ($283) per ton of bananas. Leaders from banana-producing nations in Latin America rejected this offer, saying it would wreak havoc on their economies and cause serious social problems, and met in a series of summits to hash out a common strategy for defending their exports (TT, July 15).
A WTO arbitration sided with Latin America in August, finding that the proposed tariff of 230 euros would reduce the access that the Latin American countries currently enjoy under their most-favored-nation status (TT, Aug. 5). The European Union lowered their proposal to 187 euros, which Latin America again rejected, and so the Europeans requested a second round of arbitration on Sept. 26 (TT, Oct. 30).
JW Marriott to Build
Hotel in Guanacaste
The Salvadoran group Roble Internacional will be constructing a brand-new luxury JW Marriott hotel on the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, with completion expected by the end of 2007, an official source from the project told reporters yesterday.
In statements to the daily La Nación, Javier Gasteazoro, director of Grupo Roble, explained that this will be the first JW Marriott built in Central America, and the third built in Latin America . Grupo Roble already operates a Marriott in Puebla, Mexico and another in Panama, according to Gasteazoro, who explained that only 34 of the luxurious JW Marriotts exist in the world.
Gasteazoro said construction will begin in the middle of 2006, and that he hopes that the hotel will be ready by the end of 2007. Grupo Roble is the owner of the Multiplaza malls in Central America, as well as popular hotel chain Intercontinental.
The new hotel will be named JW Marriot Hotel and Resort Hacienda Pinilla and will feature a first phase of 180 luxury rooms designed in a Spanish style. The hotel will be located at Hacienda Pinilla in the historic city of Santa Cruz in Guanacaste, 250 kilometers northwest of San José, where the group purchased a land plot measuring 40,000 square meters. It will also include a 1,500 square meter spa, four international chain restaurants and a convention center that will fit more than 1,000 people.
For the project, the group will hire 300 people, although they estimate that 6,000 people will indirectly benefit from its construction.
Hacienda Pinilla is a private residential community with small homes and a professional 18-hole golf course.
In a second phase of construction, the hotel will increase to 250 rooms and will construct condominiums and villas, Gasteazoro said.
-ACAN-EFE
Business Leaders From Throughout
Americas to Meet in Costa Rica
Business executives from 186 companies in the Americas will visit Costa Rica during the first week in November to look for business opportunities during the VII Buyer's Mission organized by the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).
PROCOMER's general international marketing manager, Jorge Zamora, said yesterday that the event's main objective is that buyers from throughout the Americas gain access to Costa Rican products.
The official explained that alliances established by international business leaders with Costa Ricans will allow them to “profit in a more direct way from the benefits of free-trade agreements and commercial treaties between countries.”
Until now, a total 186 business executives have confirmed their attendance, while the number of registered Costa Rican producers amounts to more than 240.
Participants are expected to come from Canada, the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and Chile, countries where PROCOMER has promotion offices.
“For Costa Rican exporters, the Buyer's Mission means establishing business agendas with a great variety of buyers from different countries,” Zamora said, adding that it is an “option to settle business deals at a lesser price than visiting the same range of buyers in each one of the countries.”
According to PROCOMER, the activity is part of the Promotion Office's mission to include small business owners in the export sector, either by selling their products directly or bringing their services and raw material to exporters.
Costa Rican commercial authorities expect exports to increase by 8%.
-ACAN-EFE
The San José train, originally scheduled to begin its weekday runs at the end of September, picked up its first passengers this morning at 5:08 a.m. Its passengers today included President Abel Pacheco and a host of enthusiastic community members.
The original start date was delayed due to flooding on the Pacific coast that forced the temporary relocation of railway personnel last week (TT, Sept. 30).
The train will operate on a limited schedule for approximately two weeks while final repairs and construction projects are completed, according to the daily La Nación.
The train will run through San Pedro, east of San José , to Pavas, in western San José . The entire trip takes approximately one hour and will cost ¢300 ($0.61). If only going from San José to Pavas, or San José to San Pedro, the cost is only ¢150. The rides are free until Tuesday, as a way to promote the train and familiarize passengers with the route.
Below, the temporary weekday schedule. See the upcoming Friday print or online pdf edition of The Tico Times for more on the train's first runs and the public response.
Source: Costa Rican Railroad Institute (INCOFER) |
Daily News | Home | Top Story | Business News | Central American News
Editorial Cartoon | Weekend | Exchange Rates | Fishing | Culture | Classified Ads
Display Ads | Subscribe! | Travel Guide | Archives | Links | About Us | Newsstand Locations
Contact Us