The Legislators approved the Free Trade Agreement with Panama

It was a unanimous endorsement of the agreement. All legislative factions stressed the importance for the country to have the new framework to regulate trade with the neighboring nation of the south. This means that the political landscape was very different from the discussion that the legislature has had to confront in trying to implement the Free Trade Agreement with the United States which is nearing completion after almost four years of discussion.

New School For Exporters

Mayi Antillón, “liberacionista” who chairs the Committee on International Affairs and Foreign Trade, said that the treaty will bring particular benefits to small and medium entrepreneurs who export to Panama, particularly in the field of agricultural and dairy products. For the legislator, the Panamanian market is going to be a school for exporters and businessmen interested in enhancing the quality of their products with a view to placing them in other markets. The possibility that in the medium term the National Insurance Institute (INS) and the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) can sell policies and telecommunications services on Panamanian soil, was highlighted by Antillon as one of the striking aspects of the agreement

Small Scale Producers will have great benefits

Elizabeth Fonseca, Member of Citizen Action Party (PAC by its initials in Spanish) stressed that Costa Rica exports to Panama much more than it imports from the country. "The country may benefit from the proximity of a neighbor who is a natural customer. At the moment we export 10,512 products to Panama with active participation of small and medium industry", she said. To the PAC congresswoman, the approval of the project also involves the challenge for Costa Rica to improve its infrastructure such as roads and bridges used to export fresh produce to Panama. Costa Rica and Panama took 10 years negotiating the trade treaty. The agreement was signed a year ago by the Executive branch of the government. In early August, it was ruled upon by the Committee on International Affairs in record time.

Now the agreement will be in mandatory constitutional consultation for one month so that the judges of Chamber IV can consider whether the agreement creates friction with the Constitution.