U.S., Costa Rica Reach Free Trade Deal

[arcos]

U.S., Costa Rica Reach Free Trade Deal

The Bush administration reached an agreement with Costa Rica on Sunday that will allow that nation to join four of its neighbors in creating a Central American Free Trade Area with the United States, officials of the two countries announced.

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Administration officials said they were pleased with the market-opening language finally reached with Costa Rica, which had sought to protect its monopoly operations in telephones and insurance.

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While the country will maintain bans against foreign competition in other areas of telecommunications, U.S. negotiators said they were satisfied that they had torn down barriers in the areas of most interest to U.S. companies.

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U.S. officials on Sunday refused to speculate on when the CAFTA would be presented to Congress for a vote. Supporters hope that the addition of the Dominican Republic will pick up critical House votes among Democrats whose districts include large numbers of Dominican immigrant populations.

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http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/ap/ap_story.html/Financial/AP.V4529.AP-Free-Trade.html

[no_arbusto]

1. How do Ticos feel about this?

eom

[joeunderdog]

4. They were angry about having to wait 5 years for a cell phone.

Young ticos want different things from their country. They still love that their country invests in schools rather than armies, and that it is 100% environment friendly. But they do want access to technology. They are highly educated. Let's hope that there isn't a Verizon Wireless booth at every river crossing in 3 years.

Best place in the world to visit. No question.

[arcos]

5. 5 years is a stretch...

People used to wait up to a year, though, during the 90s. Since December 2002, however, you can get a cell phone in minutes, since retailers can now activate the phone in seconds after you pay it.

There are now nearly 900,000 cellphones in the country (out of slightly more than 4 million people). Not bad.

However, as you point out, young people are much more inclined to favor opening up state monopolies.

In reply to post #1... it depends who you ask. Recent polls have shown a 55%-40% (don't have exact figures... but it's something similar) in favor of moderately opening monopolies.

Since most details of the agreement are unknown, a lot of people have not made up their minds.

[DenverDem]

2. Environmental disaster imminent (as well as economic disaster, of course)

Too bad, Costa Rico was one of the last bastions of enviromental protection.

[ugarte]

3. What choice do they have?

With the other C.A. countries already in the fold, all the U.S. has to say are the two magic words: Capital Flight.

[arcos]

6. kick n/t