QCOSTARICA — The president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, offered on Monday the “red carpet” to foreign investment, and stressed that his country is “a safe place from the geopolitical winds of the world.”
In a speech during the inauguration of the first BCIE-Korea Business Forum, organized by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), Chaves said that Costa Rica is growing, and is open for business.
“Costa Rica is a country without an Army. Costa Rica is a country in the center of the Western Hemisphere in the same time zone as the largest market in the world (the United States),” he stressed.
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The Costa Rican president also said that Costa Rica is a country “that everyone recognizes as legitimate for its strong voice in peace, for its strong voice in the rights of its citizens and as an example for the world.”
“If there is a safe place from the geopolitical winds of the world today, beyond legal certainty, I am talking about geopolitical security, it is Costa Rica,” he said.
Chaves therefore invited Korean investors and those from other parts of the world to invest in Costa Rica. “We are waiting for them on the red carpet. We want to work,” he added.
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He also stressed that Costa Rica is different from other nations not only “because it is a beautiful and sustainable country, oriented towards nature,” but because there are equal rights for women and minorities.
“Do not expect bureaucracy. In this country we are going to open a red carpet for you,” said Chaves, who assured that his government has developed “a comprehensive strategy to attract foreign direct investment.”
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“We have done very well. We have Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with almost the entire world with an enormous proportion of the global Gross Domestic Product and we are not satisfied,” he continued.
He mentioned that they have just finished closing a free trade agreement with Ecuador and are working on one with Israel, “because Costa Rica is not going to get into a trench.”
“We want more of Costa Rica in the world and more of the world in Costa Rica. We are working, just like you (South Korea), to build the best human capital, the most productive that we can,” he said.
Costa Rica wants to learn from South Korea
President Chaves also said that Costa Rica wants to collaborate with South Korea and learn from its experience.
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“You have great lessons for us, great technological and managerial knowledge and we want us to work together,” he advocated.
“We want to generate more shared well-being, because we already know: locking ourselves behind protective walls is not the strategy that generates value for our people, it is through competition, innovation, trade, investment,” he noted.
Businessmen and government representatives are participating in a forum in Costa Rica that aims to promote trade and investment relations between South Korea and Central America, within the framework of the FTA signed between the region and the Asian country in 2018.
The first BCIE-Korea Business Forum is focused on four key areas: technology and cybersecurity; pharmacy and cosmetics; vehicles and accessories; and precision agriculture.
During the event, discussion panels, business rounds and startup exhibitions will be held, where emerging companies from Korea and Central America will present their innovative proposals, according to the information.
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