Costa Rica News – Well from the eyes of someone looking at this from the outside this is a great thing for Costa Ricans but not really that great for Panamanians. The zone allows Costa Ricans and Panamanians to cross the border without a passport up to a certain distance.
“We have to giving an example of removing the requirement for using the Costa Rican and Panamanian passport for crossing the border, thus strengthening relations between the two countries. Panama’s economy has a significant growth in Latin America, we want to visit Costa Rica, who purchase our products and do tourism and Panamanians want to visit and increase trade relations with Costa Ricans, “said Chinchilla.
The president emphasized the close relations the two countries have historically had and furthermore, these nations are showing a very positive development in many economic variables, employment generation items, poverty alleviation projects and joint efforts to fight crime, violence and insecurity.
She explained that “as a first step they could eliminate the passport and work with an identification card from the inhabitants of the areas around the border and in the second stage we would try to promote legislation that will allow us to extend to national borders of both countries.
So far the Ticos can enter 300 meters into Panama and Panamanians can reach Golfito without carrying a passport.
This is a win for the Costa Ricans but not so much for the Panamanians. It allows Costa Ricans to pass into Panama and purchase items that do not have the excessive import taxes that are placed on goods imported to Costa Rica. The Costa Ricans will be able to take this trip without paying the border crossing fee.
We can only hope these good make it back to Costa Rica and this will allow consumers on this side of the border to get competitive prices for these goods.
