Rodrigo Arias Assures Legislators Will Vote on CAFTA in December
Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias remained firm yesterday in assertions made by his brother, President Oscar Arias, that lawmakers will send the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) to the floor of the Legislative Assembly by December.
Rodrigo Arias lamented the long time the assembly’s International Affairs Commission has taken to discuss the trade pact, remarking that its more than 40 hearings probably set a “world record.”
The Minister this week supported the assembly’s decision to give the commission a mid-December deadline to send CAFTA to the floor for debate.
Delay tactics by legislators opposed to CAFTA, who have been filing motion after motion with the commission, have contributed to the delay.
CAFTA still must be debated in Congress and must be approved by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) before the assembly can vote on it. Costa Rica is the only signatory country that has not ratified the trade pact, which would reduce trade barriers between Central American countries, the Dominican Republic and the United States.