CODEL BURTON ENGAGES GOCR ON CAFTA-DR AND U.S.

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000132 SIPDIS SIPDIS WHA/CEN EB FOR WCRAFT, BLAMPRON E FOR DEDWARDS WHA FOR WMIELE WHA/EPSC FOR KURS, LGUMBINER H FOR JHAGAN STTE PASS TO USTR FOR RVARGO, NMORRJANI, AMALITO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OREP ETRD EAGR PREL PGOV CS SUBJECT: CODEL BURTON ENGAGES GOCR ON CAFTA-DR AND U.S. MEAT AND POULTRY INSPECTION REF: A. 05 SAN JOSE 423 ¶B. 05 SAN JOSE 933 Summary -------------- ¶1. In his third visit to Costa Rica in a year (see reftels for previous visits),Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) met with President Pacheco, several members of his cabinet, key legislators, and Pacheco's probable successor as president, Oscar Arias. As in previous visits, discussions focused on the ratification and implementation of the U.S.-Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). Costa Rican agriculture and foreign trade officials used the visit to argue that CAFTA-DR did not explicitly require Costa Rica to recognize the safety standards of the U.S. meat and poultry inspection system and therefore such recognition should not be a condition of the treaty's entry into force. End Summary. ¶2. Representative Dan Burton (R-IN),Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, visited Costa Rica January 10-12 together with an agricultural trade mission from Indiana headed by Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman. They met with Agriculture Minister Rodolfo Coto and Acting Foreign Trade Minister Doris Osterlof. See septels for Burton's separate meetings with President Pacheco, presidential candidate Oscar Arias, Minister of Public Security Rogelio Ramos, and legislative leaders. Minister of Agriculture -------------- ¶3. Lt. Governor Skillman made the point that U.S. and Costa Rican agricultural products were complementary, not in competition. She said Indiana exported yellow corn and soybeans vital to Costa Rica's poultry and dairy industries. Coto agreed, noting that the United States was Costa Rica's principal market for agricultural products, including bananas, coffee, pineapples, melons, sugar, yucca, and ornamental plants. He said that CAFTA-DR was important to Costa Rica to ensure permanent access to the U.S. market. ¶4. Coto then cited a number of trade problems: (1) rice, produced in both countries and a staple in Costa Rica, is subsidized in the United States, creating problems for local producers; (2) the opening of Costa Rica's telecommunications and insurance sectors, required under CAFTA-DR, was "a sensitive matter and needed to be managed carefully;" and (3) the requirement that Costa Rica recognize the U.S. meat and poultry inspection system and "automatically" approve U.S. federally inspected meat and poultry products is not part of CAFTA-DR and therefore should not be imposed on Costa Rica. Coto said that if Costa Rica recognized the U.S. inspection system, which is often referred to as "equivalency," it would have to do the same for other CAFTA-DR countries. ¶5. Representative Burton noted that the U.S. inspection system had the highest standards of quality and safety in the world. The safety of the U.S. food supply, he believed, was second to none. Burton promised nevertheless to communicate Coto's concerns to his colleagues and to USTR in Washington. Acting Minister of Foreign Trade -------------- ¶6. In a separate meeting, Osterlof said that although the United States was already Costa Rica's biggest market, there was room for expansion. She said that her ministry was in the midst of reviewing its marketing strategy in the United States and was considering opening two or three new offices around the country apart from the office that already exists in Miami. Osterlof repeated Coto's complaint that the United States was "imposing requirements" on Central American countries that were not part of CAFTA-DR. Opponents of the treaty, she said, argue that Costa Rica should not give concessions to the United States without getting anything in return; they use such arguments to delay ratification and to urge renegotiation of the treaty. ¶7. Representative Burton responded that renegotiation of CAFTA-DR was out of the question, though some "fine-tuning" of the treaty was possible after ratification. He said it was important that Costa Rica not delay in ratifying and implementing CAFTA-DR because it was unlikely that the country would continue to receive Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) benefits. Press Coverage -------------- ¶8. CODEL Burton was widely covered in the press, including an interview that covered more than half a page in the January 13 edition of "La Nacion." In the interview, Burton focused on the need to combat leftist influence in the hemisphere with investment, economic growth, and jobs. In another interview, which appeared in the business newspaper "El Finaciero" on January 16, Burton cautioned that if Costa Rica does not join CAFTA-DR within two years of the entry-into-force date of treaty, it might have to stay out. Comment -------------- ¶9. Regarding equivalency, it was highly unusual that the Ministries of Agriculture and Foreign Trade coordinated to deliver a message to the United States. This was the first time that Costa Rican officials denied that the GOCR had made a commitment during the CAFTA-DR negotiations to undertake an equivalency determination with respect to the U.S. meat and poultry inspection system. In past contacts with AGATT, working-level officials certainly stalled and came up with various excuses for the lack of progress toward equivalency (including the political difficulty of the task),but they never disavowed the commitment. LANGDALE