WorldCity Business Magazine

Global Trade is Essential, Arias says

by WC

Front Lines

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said Latin America will realize its greatest economic potential only if it opens its doors to globalization.

“We must decide whether we will pay attention to those who urge us to turn our backs on globalization, close our borders and shut off the economic policies we used 40 years ago, or whether we welcome the arguments of those who believe that globalization does not offer certainties, but opportunities that can only be enjoyed by those who choose the path of global integration,” Arias told guests at a private dinner in Coral Gables during the Americas Conference in September.

Although Costa Rica is included in the United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, its Congress has not yet signed the pact so it can be implemented. Arias has been lobbying for approval in his own country.

U.S.-Costa Rica trade in 2005 surpassed $7 billion, an increase of 5.6 percent from a year earlier. Half of that trade was handled through the Miami Customs District.

Arias said globalization will bring sustained economic growth to Latin America and help it fight “shameful poverty.”

“My country is a land of 4.5 million people, one of the smallest in the world,” Arias said. “For a country like mine, and in fact for all countries on the path to development, there is no other option but to deepen our integration with the global economy.

“In eras of globalization, the dilemma that developing nations face is as harsh as it is simple: If we cannot export more and more goods, we will wind up exporting more and more people.”

Arias is serving his second presidency. He also ruled Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990, during which time he helped broker an end to the war and violence that rocked Central America. In 1987 he received the Nobel Peace Prize.