Costa Rica will formally begin the process to negotiate incorporation into the Pacific Alliance, said on Friday President Rodrigo Chaves, who seeks to increase the commercial exchange of the Central American nation and bring it closer to Asia.
Costa Rica’s entry into the mechanism, which promotes economic and commercial integration based on the free movement of goods, services and capital, had been discussed in the last decade, but governments prior to Chaves’ had chosen not to take the step towards search for incorporation.
“The main objective is to open Costa Rica to the east of the world, where we have little trade and we have ambitions to enter into a trans-Pacific agreement, to get closer to countries like China, which will soon be the largest economy in the world,” said the president, who assumed power at the beginning of May, at a press conference.
Costa Rica has free trade agreements with nine countries, including the members of the Pacific Alliance: Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, in addition to regional trade agreements such as Caricom, with Caribbean nations, CAFTA, with Central American countries, and with the European Union.
The Pacific Alliance seeks to become a world power for business and opportunities by targeting the Asian Pacific coast, one of the fundamental regions of the global economy.
