Costa Rica Looks towards Asia to Increase Its Foreign Trade

The President of the Republic, Rodrigo Chaves, assures that Asia is the destination in which Costa Rica will be concentrated during his administration in order to increase foreign trade. The president gave these statements last Thursday, August 4th, during the first Foreign Trade Congress, Logistics and its new ecosystem, which took place at the Convention Center located in Belén, Heredia.

“What is the destination? Well, Asia, Japan, Singapore, China, Thailand; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)”, said the president during his speech. In this regard, Asean is made up of 10 members:

• Brunei

• Cambodia

• Indonesian

• Laos

• Malaysia

• Myanmar

• Philippines

• Singapore

• Thailand

• Vietnam

He also pointed out that he intends for the country to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Association (CPTPP), a group through which better conditions are sought for foreign investment, generating economic growth, development and employment in the participating regions. In this second group participate:

• Australia

• Brunei

• Canada

• Chile

• Malaysia

• Mexico

• Japan

• New Zealand

• Peru

• Singapore

• Vietnam

The first steps

Asia is the destination and the route to that place implies making a stop: the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Ecuador. At the same event, the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Paula Bogantes, said that this agreement is “a first strategic step” on which work is already underway, without providing further details on the progress of said negotiation.

Another of the steps is to complete the incorporation into the Pacific Alliance, said Chaves. “We recognize that only through united effort can we make the image of open doors for foreign investment a reality”, said the president. At the same event, Chaves said that he intends to be a facilitator and not an obstacle to foreign trade while he also expressed that he is “correcting imperfections” for the benefit of Costa Rican businessmen.