Costa Rica News - Dec 04, 2005

2005 Teletón A Success

Surrounded by music and dance, hundreds worked all day to make this year's "Teletón" (telethon) a success.

The event was held at the Palacio de los Deportes in San José and ran well past the scheduled time to almost midnight, making sure that the ¢250 million colones (us$500.000) goal was reached. The final amount raised was ¢259.675.653 colones.

The money raised will go to the "Torre de Cuidados Críticos" (Critical Care centre) at the Hospital de las Sonrisas which is part of the Hospital Naciónal de los Niños (Chidlren's hospital).

Costa Rica to Enjoy Tariff-Free Exports to EU in 3 years

Costa Rica will be able to export goods tariff-free to the 25-member European Union (EU) starting from January 2009, Sergio Navas, head of the Chamber of Costa Rica Exporters, said Friday.

Pineapples, coffee, gold, agricultural products, ornamental plants, melons, palm hearts, juices and fruit concentrates - particularly orange juice - are among the main products that Costa Rica exports to the EU.

Bananas, Costa Rica's main export to the bloc, will not enjoy free market access as they are covered by a different tariff regime, Navas said.

The EU is the second most important export market for Costa Rica, after the United States, to which exports reached us$1.1 billion dollars in 2004.

Costa Rica has been officially included in the EU's new General System of Preferences (SGP-plus), in line with a ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Gasoline Prices Going Dooowwwnnn Again

Get ready for another price.... drop! Yes, you read it right, the Refinería Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope) - the state monopoly on gasoline refinery and distrubition - has asked the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) - the state regulator of public prices and services - for a drop of ¢18 colones for a litre of super; ¢17 colones for regular and ¢21 colones for diesel.

When approved, this will be the third price drop in a row, save for the small increase due to the automated period recalculations of tax on gasoline, that Recope has requested in a little over a month.

Yesterday, the price of gasoline dropped to ¢441 colones for super, down from a high of ¢504 in October; regular dropper to ¢420 colones a litre; and diesel was set at ¢324 colones.

Foreign awards for hotels here

Three hotels located in Costa Rica were awarded international recognition for their quality and their environmental practices. Punta Islita Hotel, in Nandayure, Guanacaste, was chosen Costa Rica's Leading Hotel in the 12th edition of the World Travel Award, in which travel agents and customers from 200 countries voted this year. Islita also won the Social Responsibility Award from Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Lapa Rios Hotel, in the Osa Peninsula, received the Corporate Excellence Award 2005 "for adapting to the environment, instead of adapting the environment" to its needs. Finally, the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica, in the Papagayo Gulf, was chosen as the number one resort in Central and South America and bestowed the yearly Reader's Choice Award from magazine Condé Nast Traveler, which assessed the opinions on quality and customer award submitted by 28,000 of its readers.

International research network

Costa Rica has in operation all of the mechanisms of the National Research and Education Network (CR2Net), which will enable scientists and researchers to access a vast array of databases and technology resources around the world. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, 600 universities and research institutions in Latin America are already linked to over 3,500 institutions in Europe, thanks to this network. In Costa Rica, more than 200 research units and over 1,200 researchers will benefit from this connection. "The benefits are high, since it is not any country that has this chance to access research of the international scientific community," said Minister of Science Fernando Gutierrez.

Sales of computer parts up

The sales abroad of chips and other computer parts recorded a 25 percent increase the first 10 months in 2005, as compared to the same period last year. The increase is due, mainly, to a recovery of the international demand of Intel products. In 2004, the cumulate sales January-October were $938.42 million, while the amount for the same period this year reaches $1,713.18 million. This means a $234.76 million difference, according to the Foreign Trade Promoter of Costa Rica (PROCOMER in Spanish). The benefit for the economy of the country, aside from the exports, is that the increase in the production of chips generates more jobs and a larger demand of support services for the operations in Costa Rica.

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