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15 Nov 2005 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, November 15, 2005
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Customs Building Converted
Into Cultural Center
“ La Aduana,” a brand-new, state-of-the-art cultural center that will be built in the historic customs building in downtown San José, will be the home of Costa Rica's most noteworthy academic workshops, cultural activities and artistic expositions by 2009, the Culture Ministry announced yesterday.
(Click for more)
Latin America Calls on E.U.
For New Banana Tariff Proposal
Panama (ACAN-EFE) – The ministers of commerce from eight Latin American banana-exporting countries yesterday analyzed their joint position on the European Union's attempt to raise import tariffs on bananas from the region that might allow a way out of the conflict.
(Click for more)
Coffee Growers
Seek Stable Prices
Coffee growers from around the world, meeting in San José this week, are seeking a way to keep the prices of their beans stable even when crops are destroyed by harsh weather.
(Click for more)
November 15
Round Table
“A View of the Theatrical Review,” 4-6 p.m., National Theater Company Offices, CENAC, Av. 3/5, Ca. 11/15. Info: 221-2154.
Play: Arlequín Servidor de Dos Amos
A starving servant works for two bosses at the same time to fill his stomach, Sun., 5 p.m. Mon.-Wed., 7 p.m., through Nov. 23, Teatro Atahualpa del Cioppo, of the Universidad Nacional, 1 km. west of Burger King, Heredia. Info: 277-3385.
Free Chaplin Film Festival
Tonight's feature: “Candilejas,” free at 6 p.m., at El Observatorio, Barrio La California in front of Cine Magaly. Info: 223-0725.
Edited By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Customs Building Converted
Into Cultural Center
By Scott J. Krischke
Tico Times Staff
editorial@ticotimes.net
“ La Aduana,” a brand-new, state-of-the-art cultural center that will be built in the historic customs building in downtown San José, will be the home of Costa Rica's most noteworthy academic workshops, cultural activities and artistic expositions by 2009, the Culture Ministry announced yesterday.
“Projects such as this take us beyond any definition of a capital of Iberoamerica,” said Johnny Araya, the mayor of San José. “Projects like this define us as cultural capitals.”
The project has an estimated cost of $20 million and will be housed in the celebrated former customs house of San José, originally built in 1891 near the city checkpoint for immigrants coming from the Caribbean port cities. It will be built along the lines of other urban cultural centers around the world, such as La Villette in Paris, France, and The Alternative Art Center in Mexico City.
“This has been a (historic) place where people have come together to share experiences and cultural backgrounds,” said Guido Sáenz, Costa Rica 's Minister of Culture. “This will be a place that is like a magnet (for the people of San José ), something ideal, a place with a pulse, a place with a heart with blood pumping through its veins.”
Slated to open in September 2009, La Aduana will feature a large cultural exchange area in the main building, a theater, bookstores, restaurants and an urban plaza, which will act as an urban hub for students, artists and anyone interested in culture. It will host both national and international cultural events.
Latin America Calls on E.U.
For New Banana Tariff Proposal
Panama (ACAN-EFE) – The ministers of commerce from eight Latin American banana-exporting countries yesterday analyzed their joint position on the European Union's attempt to raise import tariffs on bananas from the region that might allow a way out of the conflict.
Alejandro Ferrer, the Panamanian Minister of Commerce and Industry, host of the one-day meeting held at a Panamanian hotel, said his country advocates consensus on the different opinions expressed yesterday.
“It's time for the European Union to present a new proposal (on banana tariffs) at the negotiation table,” the minister said, and announced that any initiative in this sense must guarantee commerce and access for Latin American bananas in Europe.
A representative from the Panamanian ministry told ACAN-EFE that the ministers of Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Panama would debate the latest banana tariff proposal by the European Union (of 187 euros per metric ton) because the World Trade Organization (WTO) had considered it “illegal.”
On Oct. 27, a WTO arbitration panel declared the European Union's latest proposal to Latin American banana-exporting countries “inconsistent” (TT, Nov. 4).
The representative said for this reason, ministers were not going to adopt a position with respect to this proposal, but study different venues the laws of international trade place at their disposal.
Coffee Growers
Seek Stable Prices
Coffee growers from around the world, meeting in San José this week, are seeking a way to keep the prices of their beans stable even when crops are destroyed by harsh weather.
The XIX International Coffee Week brought representatives from the coffee industry together from Africa, the United States, Latin America, Japan and Europe. Grace Mena, president of the event, said Hurricanes Katrina and Stan, which leveled and flooded parts of the United States, Mexico and Central America, have raised coffee prices.
“It's unfortunate that coffee prices rise only with these natural disasters,” Mena said. “We must seek sustainability in the market, maintain high prices that compensate the producers, and focus on working as a team through alliances.”
The representatives brainstormed ideas to improve international prices and were trained in the benefit of obtaining certificates of quality and in how to sell in online auctions.
This year's meeting is titled “Transition Period,” alluding to the ho-hum market performance after previous years of disastrously low prices.
Costa Rica exported $203 million worth of coffee in the first nine months of this year, 19 percent more than this time last year.
--ACAN-EFE
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