ISDS Case Map
Costa Rica
Interview with Silvia Rodríguez Cervantes of Costa Rica's Biodiversity Coordination Network about the national struggle against joining UPOV (Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties) as required by CAFTA.
Costa Rican lawmakers are divided over who makes a better investor in their country, the United States or the European Union, according to a recent questionnaire.
What will become of Costa Rica? That's the question on my mind, now that my adopted country has narrowly accepted CAFTA. Our national slogan is "Pura vida!" meaning "pure life," and it's commonly used as an affirmation that life is good. It's easy to understand how such an expression could catch on here: Costa Rica has virtually no enemies, a temperate climate, and a hell of a lot of good beaches. However, as an expatriate whose previous hometowns have been despoiled by global capitalism, I find it difficult to imagine that life will be as pure or as good once the effects of CAFTA begin to kick in.
Costa Rica, one of the few Latin America countries still with a state-run telephone sector, is expected soon to open to big foreign players as part of a trade deal with the United States.
Representatives from Central America and the European Union met yesterday, March 17th, to negotiate new trade policy. One of the key elements being proposed by the Central American committee is the lowering of tariffs imposed on certain agricultural products to allow for more competitive trade.
Hundreds of Costa Rican indigenous people began a protest against the Free Trade Agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the United States. They accused the FTA of imposing the use of patented seeds that prevent traditional crops and warned that the use of transgenic seeds from the United States would affect ancestral crops closely linked to the people's view of the world and spirituality.
Costa Rica has won a seven-month extension from its U.S. and regional trade partners to pass laws required for its entry into the CAFTA free trade pact, President Oscar Arias said on Wednesday.
President Oscar Arias said Tuesday he will ask the US to delay implementation of a free-trade agreement to give the country time to pass several necessary local laws.
A Chinese business delegation is in Costa Rica to explore the possibilities of a bilateral free trade agreement. The feasibility study would take at least six months.
The Costa Rican Congress resumed discussion Monday on the complementary agenda required by March 1 for implementation of the Central American-US Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). Of the 13 bills needed, only 2 have been approved so far.
