Honduras Looks To Costa Rica For Advice on Increasing Exports

Honduras has sent to Costa Rica a delegation to learn how to increase their exports. The Honduran delegation is headed by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Jose Adonis Lavairea, government officials and businessmen.

The group's stop is at the Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica (Comex) - Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Trade.

In an official statement, the group's goal is "to broaden their knowledge about the Costa Rican model and export promotion, particularly on the operations carried out by the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer)."

Laveirea met his Costa Rican counterpart, Anabel González, who explained in detail the history, functions and main characteristics of Procomer, in charge of promoting exports in Costa Rica.

"It gives us a clear view of the different processes that the institution. This is particularly relevant now because Honduras is reviewing the various export promotion models that exist and, as part of this exercise, we identified that the Costa Rican experience is worth exploring," said the Honduran minister.

Gonzalez said the group will have meetings to soak up how Costa Rica carries out its "promotion, market intelligence and chain for export."

For the Costa Rican government, "this dialogue is an example of South-South cooperation driven to promote the strengthening of the institutions involved in foreign trade operations."

According to figures from the Sistema de Integración Económica Centroamericana (SIECA) - Central American Economic Integration System, last year exports from Costa Rica, the largest exporter in the region, totaled US$10.2 billion dollars, while Honduras' total was US$3.9 billion.