ISDS Case Map
Costa Rica
It will be Costa Rica's first with an Asian country
German investor Reinhard Unglaube, a resident of Costa Rica, has commenced arbitration against his host country over the latter’s refusal to grant the appropriate permits to extend his eco-tourist hotel complex in Playa Grande, Costa Rica.
China wants ties in the region, Costa Rica wants Chinese goods. But not everyone's pleased.
On 6 October, two years after the fraud that ordered the adoption of the FTA with the US, there was a People's Walk for Dignity in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica.
As deliberations over a possible free-trade agreement (FTA) between Costa Rica and China continue, opposition from some of Costa Rica's leading business associations is growing stronger.
China and Costa Rica concluded the fourth round of negotiations in Beijing aimed at reaching a free trade agreement, according to the foreign trade ministry.
Both accords are expected to be finalized within the first half of 2010.
During the second round of free trade negotiations last week, China's negotiating team discussed allowing 94 percent of Costa Rican goods to access the Chinese market, but left out key products such as coffee, sugar, beef, pork and chicken.
On April 1, Nicaragua withdrew from FTA talks with the EU in Honduras as it failed to gain support of other Central American countries on the fund proposal for regional development, in which it suggested the EU accounts for 90 percent and Central America 10 percent. Nicaragua accused Costa Rica of demanding "in the last moment" to review the proposal.
Costa Rica and China may seem to be an unlikely pairing; however, both governments have moved to deepen their ties and cement regional integration based on the pursuit of a free trade agreement, which was brought a step closer by the completion of the first round of negotiations on January 19.
