Costa Rica to facilitate joint investments with the United Arab Emirates

By IDEAS

The United Arab Emirates and Costa Rica signed a joint statement marking the launch of preliminary talks to establish a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between the two countries. The signing took pace during the visit of a high-level Costa Rican delegation to the Ministry of Economy’s headquarters in Dubai.

The launch of preliminary CEPA negotiations reflects the two governments’ shared aspirations to promote bilateral economic relations, boost investment and trade exchanges, expedite the flow of goods, facilitate market access and create new joint investments and projects in priority sectors.

The trade and investment exchanges between the two countries continue to grow as the non-oil trade reached AED 216 million (USD 58.7 million) in 2022 with a 19 per cent growth compared to that of 2021.

The UAE’s investments in Costa Rica span sectors such as IT, tourism, retail, advertising, media, real estate, renewable energy, air transport, and logistics.

The UAE is keen to expand its network of trade partners and strengthen existing ties with them.

The comprehensive economic partnerships programme was launched by the UAE government in September 2021 with the aim of expanding the trade and investment partnership with a number of strategic global markets, increase the size of trade exchanges, and enhance growth opportunities for the national exports. Through this programme, the UAE has signed four agreements so far – with India, Israel, Indonesia, and Turkiye – and the upcoming period will see the signing of more agreements with other countries.