Costa Rica and Panama Open New Crossing

By IDEAS

On February 20, 2024, a major milestone was reached in the process of modernizing and integrating the borders between Costa Rica and Panama. The new facilities located on Costa Rican territory were inaugurated, with an area of 14,000 square meters and an investment of USD 33 million. The facilities include buildings for customs, immigration, police, phytosanitary services, and more.

The Integrated Control Center is a type of juxtaposed border, meaning that there is representation from both countries at the same border post. The idea is to manage the border in a coordinated manner and to speed up the passage of goods, which could be simplified from 14 hours to one hour.

Costa Rica is currently looking to implement a state-of-the art digitalized Customs Management System. This historic project is a key component of Costa Rica's Hacienda Digital initiative, supported by the World Bank, aimed to upgrade tax and customs procedures and information systems.

An international global company will lead the charge in transforming trade operations, ensuring precise customs duty payments, and simplifying e-commerce imports, marking the biggest company's project in Central America, a vital trade hub. Costa Rica's impressive trade statistics further underscore the significance of this project.

"This project will allow us to have a modern system. We are going to have a world-class system that will allow us, not only to provide traceability, but also to use artificial intelligence to manage imports and exports in this country," stated Finance Minister Nogui Acosta.

The digital customs system will handle a wide range of trade operations, including manifest, import and export declarations, and cargo traceability, set to be fully operational by November next year.