Singapore, Costa Rica sign FTA

SINGAPORE: Singapore and Costa Rica signed the Singapore-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement (SCRFTA) here on Tuesday.

According to a statement by Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry, the SCRFTA is a broad-based and comprehensive agreement, covering issues such as trade in goods, rules of origin, customs procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, trade remedies, government procurement, competition policy, trade in services, investment, electronic commerce, intellectual property rights, bilateral cooperation, transparency, institutional provisions and dispute settlement.

Under the agreement, Costa Rica will be eliminating customs duties for 90.6 percent of its tariff lines upon entry into force of the agreement with the tariff on the remaining products to be eliminated over a period of 10 years, with the possibility of accelerated tariff elimination.

Tuesday, Xinhua