Daily News  

COMEX is asking for more effort to increase the exportations.

The minister of the Foreign Trade (Comex), Marco Vinicio Ruiz, warned yesterday that he is discontented with the increase in the exports, because the country can grow in this area with more force.

The hierarch announced, along with the general manager of the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), Martin Zuniga, that the country will close this year with sales abroad about $ 9,000 million.

Between January and October this year the value of the exports reached $ 7,811 million, 14% more than in the last period of 2006, according to the figures of Procomer.

Ruiz said that the ability to grow more is facing obstacles of infrastructure (ports, airports, roads) and services (telecommunications, transportation and others).

In addition, they challenged the entrepreneurs to be more aggressive in seizing opportunities in the market, because the current sales in euros, in view of the revaluation of the currency against the dollar.

The Minister announced a program that will be presented in the Governing Council, which propose a plan that involves improvements in the Ministries of Public Works and Transport, in the Treasury Minister and in the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), in the Customs and in other institutions.

The plan includes improvements in infrastructure, strengthening vocational and technical education (teaching English in particular), the relationship between politics and productive environment, the comprehensive reform of the special arrangements for the exportations (and other zones), the streamlining formalities, migratory aspects (especially for labor zones) and the development of business intelligence programs.

Monica Araya, president of the Chamber of Exporters in Costa Rica (Cadexco), stressed that the guild has asked several times the need to design and implement a project of competitiveness.
The employee warned that they should include long-term objectives and goals in a holistic way.
Araya described as very important, that the Minister Ruiz presents an analysis of competitiveness and call people for sharing with the private sector and invite them to participate.

The leader opposed the proposition of Ruiz in the sense that employers need to be more aggressive. He assured that precisely the aggressiveness is the one that maintains the export growth at a brisk pace. In addition, he said, the pace which governments use to improve aspects of the competitiveness (infrastructure, services, processes, etc.) is much slower