Costa Rica Signs New Free-Trade Agreements

Costa Rica has been busy paving the way for more trade with Asia.

On April 5, Costa Rica signed a free-trade agreement with Singapore, Costa Rica’s first with an Asian country.

Under the agreement, Costa Rica will eliminate customs duties for 90 percent of its tariffs imposed on products from Singapore with the remainder to be phased out over 10 years, while Singapore will grant immediate duty-free access to all imports from Costa Rica once the agreement takes effect.

Costa Rica is Singapore’s eighth-largest trading partner in Latin America, while Singapore is Costa Rica’s second-largest trading partner in Southeast Asia. Trade between the two countries reached $297 million in 2009, up 30 percent over the last five years.

Three days later, Costa Rica signed a free-trade agreement with China, making it the first Central American country to establish a free-trade pact with the Middle Kingdom.

Costa Rica said that the pact will help increase trade with China by 10 percent. Trade between the two countries rose from $68 million in 1999 to $1.5 billion last year.

Costa Rica officially recognized China in June 2008, after years of allying itself with Taiwan. Most of Central America still grants diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, which China claims is part of its territory.—Deborah Belgum