Talks to begin on updating the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, announced last week that the two countries will begin negotiations to modernize the existing Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement.

The Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement (CCRFTA), which entered into force on November 1, 2002, is a first-generation agreement that focuses mainly on trade in goods and does not include substantive provisions in other areas such as cross-border trade in services, investment and government procurement.

Negotiations towards the modernization of the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement will aim to accelerate the elimination of tariffs for agricultural and industrial goods, increase market access and broaden the agreement to cover other areas, such as cross-border trade in services, including financial services.

Canada and Costa Rica had agreed about a year ago to work toward modernizing the existing bilateral free trade agreement. Subsequent government-to-government exploratory discussions and public consultations with domestic stakeholders revealed broad-based support for the launch of negotiations to modernize the CCRFTA.