As I mentioned on the post for the 22 of this month, President Oscar Arias requested an extension on the deadline for Costa Rica to officially enter the CAFTA, this was because the Legislators were a little slow on their performance regarding the new laws; and also because of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which allows most Costa Rican exports to enter the United States tariff free, expires Sept. 30 for certain goods, including tuna and textiles. Still, Foreign Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said Costa Rica would try to enter CAFTA by July.

Well, the rest of the countries in the CAFTA agreement really want Costa Rica to be part of it, so the request for an extension was successfully granted.

Costa Rica now has until Oct. 1 to enter the Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA), according to a pact reached yesterday by the treaty’s signers that extends the deadline by seven months.

Representatives of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and the United States signed the extension document in Washington, D.C., three days before Costa Rica’s March 1 deadline for entering the treaty.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab also urged Costa Rica to join CAFTA as soon as possible.

“We look forward to welcoming Costa Rica as a full member of this important regional free-trade agreement in the next few months,” she said in a statement.

By now only two of the CAFTA bills have become law, while seven more have made substantial progress in the Legislative Assembly. The Arias administration yesterday presented the 12th bill, which would strengthen intellectual property rights.

U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Christopher Padilla is scheduled to meet with President Arias tomorrow to discuss different ways to boost Costa Rican exports to the United States.

This news was met with approval from different Business sectors of the country, as they now that the agreement represents the coming of a new age for the local economy.