Arias Signs CAFTA

Costa Rican president Oscar Arias signed CAFTA-DR into law yesterday reports the IHT. Getting Costa Rica to sign on took an amazing amount of "marketing" of the trade pact.

At the signing ceremony, President Oscar Arias called on lawmakers to pass a package of 13 complementary laws that need to be approved before March 2008 for the Central American Free Trade Agreement to take effect.

More important for Nicaragua is whether the pact will adversely affect Nicaraguan exports to Costa Rica. For example, one of the arguments for CAFTA was that Costa Rica could import US beef instead of beef from Nicaragua.