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Barbadians are being told it is easy to do business in Costa Rica, but the area of concern may be the cost of getting goods from both destinations.
This advice has come from Customs, Logistics & International Trade Executive Coach, Margarita Libby, who acknowledged that freight costs would be a bit higher because there was no direct route from Costa Rica to Barbados. "We would need to impress upon the shipping and airline companies that if they started a route from there to here they are going to have business," she suggested.
However, Ms. Libby was quick to point out that "we have a lot of commerce with Barbados now". She continued: "Costa Rica exports pharmaceuticals, [products in the] food industry and plastics to Barbados, while Barbados exports labels, pharmaceuticals and some food to us.
"But, I believe we can trade in more than that… We have a lot of products that we can share with you, and of course, Barbados has a lot that can be shared with us."
Ms. Libby lamented that some business people here and in Barbados might not be aware of the various treaties, including the CARICOM-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement and she suggested that there was a need for more communication to be established between the two countries.
Costa Rica has a population of approximately 4.5 million people and a per capita income of about US $11,300. Its major markets are the United States of America, Central America, China, the Netherlands and Panama.