Last week the president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, celebrated the OECD invitation to begin negotiations on the country’s accession in 2005, calling it a “recognition of all that we have been moving forward as a country.”
Chinchilla said at a press conference, after hearing the decision of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the invitation to join this forum is the result of “intense, serious and sustained effort” that has made Costa Rica in recent years.
Costa Rica in 2001 sought admission to the OECD and this past week received the invitation to start the negotiation process that should culminate in incorporation, together with Lithuania, in 2015.
To Chinchilla, the country has shown progress in “democracy, sustainable human development, trade openness and governance”, allowing you to enter the “club of excellence that brings together the richest and most developed countries of the world.”
“This invitation is the beginning of the final journey to the developed world will lead our ambition,” she said.
Costa Rica will work with the authorities of the OECD on a “roadmap” of actions to formalize its entry to the organization, and they have to do with public policy, global value chains and investment climate, including others, as explained by the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister, Anabel González.
The Chair noted that this process of preparation “will contribute to give a quantum leap in the quality of policies and institutions Rican and competitiveness”.
“Now the country cannot let up in issues such as quality education, fiscal transparency, environment, open and fair trade, tax and fiscal responsibility, sound and transparent financial systems,” he added.
Currently, the OECD has only two Latin American members: Mexico and Chile, with Colombia joining.
Among the benefits of belonging to this organization are monitoring, analysis of the economy and government and participation in development cooperation programs. Based on a report by EFE
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose Costa Rica
