Costa Rica

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, CMC – Caribbean countries are to benefit from a regional initiative that is aimed at providing first-hand information and generating up-to-date statistics on the degree status of human resources as well as the structure, size, and level of investment in research and development (R&D) in Central America and the Caribbean.

The Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) said that the information would be used to update the data available for the Caribbean dating back t0 1996 and in the case of Central America, 2006.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) concluded its second free trade agreement with a country in the wider Caribbean with the signature of the CARICOM-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement today in Jamaica. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on behalf of CARICOM and President Abel Pacheco of Costa Rica signed the Agreement in the presence of a gathering, which included members of the Costa Rican and Jamaican cabinets, private sector representatives of both countries, and the Secretary-General of CARICOM, Mr. Edwin Carrington.

After three rounds of negotiations CARICOM and Costa Rica concluded a Free Trade Agreement which holds the promise of significantly increasing trade between thirteen CARICOM countries and Costa Rica, a market of some 4 million persons. The negotiations were concluded in San José, Costa Rica, on 15 March 2003, with the initialling of the Agreement by the CARICOM negotiating spokesperson, Mr. Byron Blake, Assistant Secretary General of the Caribbean Community Secretariat and Mr. Fernando Ocampo, Director General of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica.

1. The Caribbean Community has been engaged with Haiti for a long time, as that country is part of the Caribbean sub-region. Haiti has also applied for full membership of the Caribbean Community and Common Market.

2. CARICOM Heads of Government have agreed to the establishment of a CARICOM Office in Haiti to support Haiti´s membership of the Community and I am pleased to inform that that staff will leave Georgetown this week-end to commence operations of that office, which will be housed in the Embassy of The Bahamas in Haiti.