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Arias scheduled to sign
trade treaty with Panamá
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Óscar Arias Sánchez is scheduled to sign a free trade treaty with Panamá at 5 p.m. today in a ceremony in the Hotel Real Intercontinental in Escazú.
The treaty was reached by negotiators of both countries during the last week in June. The signing ceremony is a preliminary to ratification in the Asamblea Legislativa.
The treaty is expected to be less controversial than the agreement with the United States that has divided the nation for three years. The battle against that treaty is fueled by anti-American sentiment.
However, the Panamá treaty also provides for an opening of the telecommunications monopoly here. Firms from Panamá will be able to offer telecommunication services, and the Instituto Costarricence de Electricidad will be able to offer services in Panamá.
The institute's unions are very sensitive to competition.
Under the agreement some 93 percent of industrial and agroindustrial products will have free access. Other industrial products will have a period of from five to 11 years as the customs duties gradually diminish. Some agricultural products will have schedules for reduction of duties as long as 16 years.
Arias probably hopes that the treaty is not as controversial as the one with the United States. The president went to sleep Monday night with the sounds of protesters in his ears. Anti-trade treaty demonstrators said they came to his Rohrmoser home to serenade him Monday night.
Below is a follow up article following the signing
Torrijos likes trade treaty
and calls it a just agreement
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Panama's president Martín Torrijos Espino said Tuesday night that he was confident and had no doubt that the national interests of Costa Rica and Panamá have been fully preserved in the negotiating process with a constructive spirit and a vision for the future that produced a free trade treaty.
He called the treaty with Costa Rica just and said that the two countries are becoming one market with the potential to generate business that exceeds $2 billion a year.
Torrijos joined Costa Rican President Óscar Arias Sánchez in signing the accord at a ceremony late Tuesday afternoon. He also is in town for a meeting of presidents today to mark the 20th anniversary of the peace accords that began to end hostilities in Central America.
Arias noted that the border between Panamá and Costa Rica had no walls and outlined the continuing friendship between the two countries.
