Arias Confident U.S.
Will Provide New
Extension
Costa Rica president,
Oscar Arias, is counting
on his good relations
with is US counterpart,
George W. Bush, in
asking for a second
extension to the Tratado
Libre de Comercio (TLC)
- free trade agreement
with the US and Central
America.
The reason for the
extension, the second
for Costa Rica, is that
it failed to pass all
but one of the
complimentary laws
before the September 30
deadline set earlier
this year when president
Arias, the first ever in
the history of free
trade agreements, asked
the US for more time.
All the other signatory
countries to the Central
American Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA), have
ratified and have in
place their respective
agreements. Costa Rica
is the only signatory
country not to do so.
The second extension is
being sought after the
Constitutional Court
earlier this month found
constitutional issues
with the intellectual
property bill, forcing
legislators to once
again open debate and
approval for the last of
the complimentary laws.
Given Costa Rica's
Legislative Assembly
record of a lengthy
process of passing
bills, the government
decided, after exploring
possible solutions, to
better ask for an
extension.
The government formally
began holding
conservations with the
U.S. authorities, in a
move to avoid being left
out of benefits coming
from CAFTA, once it
realized there wouldn’t
be enough time to get
this bill passed in
Congress by the
deadline.
The process was begun by
acting president, Laura
Chinchilla, while
president Arias was on
his European tour, and
acting foreign trade
minister and the US.
Embassy in San José
council minister.
President Arias, who is
the US this week
attending the Latin
American presidents
summit, is expected to
bring up the subject
when he meets with
president Bush. |
