Archive for November 28th, 2008
Friday, November 28th, 2008
Chinese President Hu Jintao finished the last leg of his five-nation trip here on Wednesday and embarked on his way home.
The trip, which began on Nov. 14, took him to a financial summit in Washington and the Economic Leaders’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima.
He also paid state visits to Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru and Greece.
At the Washington summit, the Chinese leader outlined China’s propositions on responding to the international financial crisis, explained major measures adopted by the Chinese government to ensure financial stability and economic development, and made proposals on reforming the international financial system.
At the APEC meeting, President Hu made proposals on furthering Asia-Pacific regional cooperation in dealing with the world financial crisis, the Doha Round of WTO negotiations, food and energy security, and other pressing issues facing the world and the region.
During his state visits to Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru and Greece, the Chinese president and leaders of the four nations exchanged views on the further development of bilateral relations and reached broad consensus on expanding friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation.
In Lima, Hu and his Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia announced the conclusion of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and the upgrading of bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.
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Friday, November 28th, 2008
Lawmakers yesterday approved President Oscar Arias administration’s $7.45 billion budget for 2009, an estimated 3.7 percent increase in real spending over this year.
The big winners are education, health and culture. Real spending will increase by 23.4 percent for the Health Ministry and 37.5 percent for the Culture Ministry. The Education Ministry will receive about $2 million, an increase of 24.3 percent over this year and more than one quarter of the total budget.
Still, lawmakers from the opposition Citizen Action Party (PAC) criticized the Arias administration for failing to fulfill the president’s campaign process to invest 8 percent of GDP in education.
Although Arias calls security a priority, the Security Ministry’s budget will increase by a smaller margin than health or education. Some $192 million will go to fight crime, a 14.9 percent increase over this year in real terms.
About 72 percent of the budget will be financed by state income, while 28 percent will come from the sale of state bonds.
Some 23 of the 39 lawmakers who attended session yesterday afternoon gave the budget a thumbs-up.
Beginning next week, the Executive Branch will be able to decide the legislative agenda. The administration is prioritizing bills that would overhaul the immigration system, transfer cash to state banks, crack down on traffic law violations and beef up security.
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Friday, November 28th, 2008
Costa Rica recently signed up for Shanghai World Expo 2010. Up until now, there are 164 countries and international organizations that have signed a participation contract.
Costa Rica confirmed its participation in October 2006 and will display, with the theme “Peaceful Co-existence with Nature” in the Central and South America Union Hall. The Central and South America Union Hall is planned to be located in Zone C of the World Expo’s Pudong Park area. Currently, there are already nine Central and South American countries that have confirmed their participation in this Expo.
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Friday, November 28th, 2008
A group of 16 Costa Rican tourists were rescued Thursday from the disaster area in the Panamanian province of Bocas del Toro, which has been isolated by flood.
Costa Rican Consul in David City Victor Carvajal said the tourists were brought to safety by a plane of the Colombian Air Force performing humanitarian aid mission.
Carvajal also thanked the aid and rescue groups.
Authorities of the Panamanian National System of Civil Protection (Sinaproc) said the Costa Ricans were the last group of100 foreign tourists trapped in that zone.
Sinaproc said the number of victims has risen to 21,427.
On Thursday, the Panamanian authorities set up maritime and aerial links to the disaster zone to deliver humanitarian aid, including water, food, medicine, clothes and machines to rebuild the roads.
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