Costa Rica sees the Indo-Pacific area as a priority over other regional trade deals, such as EU-Mercosur. An Indo-Pacific trade group, the CPTPP, could become the largest trading bloc in terms of GDP if new members — such as the EU — join.

San José

Costa Rica is advancing its efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), according to Trade Minister Manuel Tovar. The country is currently not pursuing new trade negotiations with the European Union or the Mercosur bloc, focusing instead on opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region.

The European Union has also shown interest in engaging with the CPTPP, and other countries such as South Korea and Indonesia are seeking to join the partnership. Costa Rica aims to complete its accession process by the end of the year, reflecting a broader trend of countries prioritizing Indo-Pacific trade relations.

Costa Rica prioritizes Indo-Pacific trade over EU-Mercosur

The Pacific region is a dynamic hub of opportunity amid rising global trade tensions, Costa Rican Trade Minister Manuel Tovar told Euronews in an interview. More countries want to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement signed in 2018. At present, Costa Rica is trying to enter this partnership, and no new engagements with the European Union market have been prioritised. We are advancing our accession process to the CPTPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and of course the Pacific Alliance, so at this moment in time we look at other blocs with interest, but we have at this moment of time no decision whether to approach the Mercosur bloc. The European Union is also looking at the CPTPP. European Commissioner for Trade Marov Sefcovic said that the EU is working on a dialogue with the Pacific, with the goal to launch it as soon as possible. It is roughly the third trade bloc in the world, already the European Union has expressed some sort of interest in potentially doing business with the CPTPP, if that were to happen that would certainly become of this bloc the largest trade bloc in terms of GDP in the world, without China, without the US, to do largest economies outside of this bloc. So it's something interesting, and of course I think that this will grasp the interest of other countries, South Korea and Indonesia are also queuing up to conclude our process. We're aiming to wrap up our own by the end of this year.

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