Latinnews Daily - 17 December 2003

To the delight of its business sector, the Costa Rican government pulled out of the final round of talks about creating a free trade area between Central America and the US on 16 December. The decision was a surprise because Costa Rica had made significant concessions to the US, especially in liberalising the telecoms industry, to achieve a deal. The Costa Ricans say that they will return in January to negotiate a deal, but a date has yet to be set. As the other Central American delegations observed, the US is unlikely to change its offer over Christmas and the New Year.