Road to ratifying CAFTA much smoother now

Apr 8, 2008

GUANACSTE, Costa Rica (The Guanacaste Journal - Infocom)  

A series of political agreements and recent Constitutional Court resolutions have paved the road for approval of complementary bills required to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States.“I must express my deepest satisfaction about the political agreement that was reached yesterday afternoon (last week) at the Legislative Assembly. I want to recognize and extend congratulations to all the political parties that made this agreement possible, something that should happen in Congress every day: being able to reach accords, overcome differences and be realistic, because it’s time to turn this page.”

With those words, Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias referred to the “patriotic political agreement” that will allow the Legislative Assembly to debate the remaining bills in CAFTA’s implementation agenda and, at the same time, consider other urgent initiatives, such as the Development Bank Bill and the Public Works Concession Bill.

Also benefiting from the accord will be the Security and Electoral Reform commissions, among others.Arias highlighted that, by establishing extraordinary sessions during the morning, Congress will be able to approve the entire implementation agenda within three months.“Fortunately, we already have many bills approved, which have become law. Right now, there are five in consultation with the Constitutional Court, and the only ones left (for approval) are the Telecommunications Bill, the National Insurance Institute (INS) Opening Bill, and the Intellectual Property Bill,” Arias said.Shortly after Arias’ comments, the Constitutional Court backed the telecommunications bill, stating it has no issues of unconstitutionality. This means the bill will only need 29 votes to be approved. 

“With the progress we are seeing in the Legislative Assembly, soon deputies will be able to vote on these three initiatives on first debate, so I think that the 90 days we had announced as the deadline for approving the implementation agenda will be met. I’m very optimistic that we will able to accomplish it,” Minister Arias added.

Costa Rica is the only CAFTA signatory that hasn’t ratified this trade deal, which includes five Central American nations, the Dominican Republic and the United States.