Costa Rica and Panama Will Inaugurate a US$33 Million Border Post

The president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, and that of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, will inaugurate on Tuesday the Paso Canoas Integrated Control Center, which consists of a border post valued at 33 million dollars.

Both leaders will participate in a formal ceremony in which they will cut the ribbon that symbolizes the inauguration of the facilities and then will hold a bilateral meeting accompanied by their respective delegations, the Costa Rican Presidential House reported this past Monday.

The new facilities, located in Costa Rican territory and comprising 14,000 square meters, represent an investment of 33 million dollars and include buildings for customs, immigration, police, phytosanitary service, among other agencies.

Optimized and digitalized processes

“The Paso Canoas Integrated Control Center responds to a coordinated double-header border management model, with optimized and digitalized processes. The above implies a single control stop by users and transporters in the country of entry and headquarters of the controls,” explained the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Framework Agreement to implement binational integrated control systems

The development of this infrastructure is part of the “Framework Agreement to implement binational integrated control systems at border posts between Costa Rica and Panama”, an instrument in force and ratified by both countries in 2019.

This initiative is led by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, within the framework of the Border Integration Program (PIF), and the National Customs Service of Panama, in charge of the Customs Logistics Integration Program (PILA), in coordination with other institutions dedicated to customs, immigration, phytosanitary service and animal health. According to the Costa Rican Government, the new facilities will allow to continue strengthening the country’s competitiveness and trade with Central America.