Costa Rica Inches Toward Coveted APEC Membership
Costa Rica Inches Toward Coveted APEC Membership
FTAs with Peru and China are part of a broader trade strategy.
If President Laura Chinchilla gets her way, Costa Rica will be among the first countries to join the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) since a moratorium on new members was set in 1998. But joining the group is an uphill battle, and the president knows that. Costa Rica is now one of more than a dozen other countries—including India, Panama and Colombia—lobbying to join the club.
In the past month, Costa Rica has continued to expand its free-trade network, inking a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Peru and ratifying an accord with China. Though markets like China and Peru may seem quite different, an alluring connection exists between both: APEC membership.
Costa Rican government officials have expressed an interest in joining the 21-member APEC at least as far back as 2005 and are considering every possible entryway into the group. Beyond Peru and China, a deal has been inked with Singapore and ones could be in the pipeline with South Korea and Japan...
Read the full text of this AQ Web Exclusive at www.AmericasQuarterly.org.
Alex Leff is a correspondent for Reuters and GlobalPost in San José, Costa Rica. He is also a contributing blogger to AQ Online.
