Caribbean & Central America - June 2013 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Joining the Pacific Alliance: While the image of the Laura Chinchilla government has come under question vis-à-vis corruption, the country’s international profile nonetheless continues to rise in other respects. As well as a recent visit by China’s president Xi Jinping (see sidebar), Costa Rica has been virtually admitted into the Pacific Alliance regional trade bloc (which includes Colombia, Chile, Peru and Mexico). This followed the inking of a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia on 22 May, which means that the Central American country has now fulfilled the requirement of having FTAs in place with all Pacific Alliance members before being allowed to join.

OECD invitation: On 30 May the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) signalled its intention to open membership talks with Costa Rica in 2015 and to “work closely” with the country in the intervening period. So far Chile and Mexico are the only Latin American OECD members although the OECD has announced that it has formally invited Colombia to submit an application, the final stage in the accession process.