Archive for September 8th, 2009
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
A grainy photo of the crater of the Volcán Rincón de La Vieja, Guanacaste, appears to show the body of man that could be that of David Gimelfarb, who has been missing since August 11 and all search efforts so far have failed to locate the man, dead or alive.
The Cruz Roja Costarricense (Red Cross), with the help of the park rangers, police and tourist guides, will this morning resume their efforts to locate the missing man, using the photo as a possible clue to the man’s demise.
The photo is an aerial shot that appears to be of a man face down and arms extended in the volcano’s crater.
Gimelfarb was last seen driving his rented vehicle and parking in the lot before going into the national park. The man was notice missing by park rankers and employees of the Hotel Guachipelín, alerting authorities.
Search teams included the use of US military helicopters “black hawk” and the British rescue team ResQglobal receiving a request from retired United States Secret Service Agent – and Senior Vice President of our Strategic Partner SOS Security Incorporated, Scott Alswang.
Last week the Cruz Roja decided to call off the search efforts, however, the Gilmfarb family never lost hope. David’s father has been continuing the search efforts, while his mother is in a San José hospital suffering from a nervous breakdown due to her son’s disapperance.
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Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Latin American experts will discuss from Wednesday in Costa Rica UN Resolution 1540 on non proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Guests from Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama will talk about improving data exchange and weapon export control.
Resolution 1540 of April 2004 is aimed at controlling illegal nuclear, chemical or biological weapons development and trade.
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Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Mexico’s Sunday media cheered the national soccer team for their 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in the World Cup qualifier.
Excelsior called the game “the three G” for goal scorers Guillermo Franco, Giovani dos Santos and Andres Guardado, headlining the match “Una cosa rica” (a delicious thing).
“Mexico is close” headlined newspaper El Sol de Mexico, reporting that Mexico is now in third place in the qualifying tour. The top three will go through automatically.
Mexico City daily Milenio led with a photograph of dos Santos, praising him for a goal to two assists, in the Saprissa Stadium, in Costa Rica capital San Jose.
Reforma headlined the news “Se crece el tri” (the Tri keeps growing), a reference to the national teams nickname “El Tricolor”(the team with three colors). The newspaper’s sports section Cancha, described the match as the Tri’s best in the whole qualification competition.
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Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Free-trade agreements with China and Singapore appear to be well on their way.
On Monday, Costa Rica started the fourth round of negotiations with China on the specifics of a free-trade pact. The talks, which will last through the week, aim to further clarify what products China hopes to export to Costa Rica and which Chinese products are of greatest importance to Costa Rica. Representatives from the two countries will also discuss how the products will be transported and the monitoring of safety and health standards for goods traded, according to a statement by the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX).
Costa Rica also discussed a free-trade agreement with Singapore last Thursday at the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER), finishing a third round of negotiations.
The two nations discussed the trade of construction materials, infrastructure, the food industry, agriculture, and ornamental plants and flowers. The primary themes of this round of the talks included the importance of maintenance of the products to ensure that, when traded, they arrive in good condition.
In this vein, Singapore proposed the use of a product known as Purfresh, used to slow the maturation of a product and maintain its freshness. Purfresh is a packing product that contains nitrogen, which reduces the amount of existing oxygen, thereby limiting the development of harmful microorganisms during the shipping process. Though the use of this element will result in a small increase in the cost of transport, Emmanuel Hess, general director of PROCOMER, thinks it is a worthy investment.
“The fundamental idea behind these actions is for Costa Rican businesses from diverse sectors to be better informed about the innovative logistical models used for exports,” Hess said. “Businesses will be able to enjoy the best form of potential business and utilize an improved method of trade due to the free-trade agreements with China and Singapore.”
Both accords are expected to be finalized within the first half of 2010.
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Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
The China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the parent (OOTC:KIDSQ) of Petro China (PTR.NYSE, 600857.SH), has been given the green light by Costa Rica government for a proposed refining joint venture with the country’s state oil company RECOPE.
Both companies signed a supplementary agreement on July 15 to cl arify issues such as labor, leasing contracts, shareholders’ interests and violation terms.
RECOPE is believed to have already submitted the deal to Costa R ica authorities for approval so that the refinery project can begin as soon as possible.
According to a RECOPE official, the project is expected to generate approximately 200 million US dollars annually.
Under the terms of the original deal that the CNPC’s subsidiary CNPC International signed with RECOPE in Costa Rica’s capital on November 2008, the two companies agreed to establish a joint venture to start 25 years of cooperation (OOTC:SRPIF).
However, the joint venture was suspended in March 2009 because t he Costa Rica Audit Administration’s authority suspected that the deal would undermine RECOPE’s monopoly over the country’s strategic oil an d gas market.
This was reversed in June 2009, when the country’s General Inves tigation Agency gave judicial interpretation of the deal, paving the way for resumption of the project. In the meantime, the supplementary agreement was negotiated to soothe domestic concerns about the deal.
The joint venture will upgrade Costa Rica’s Moin refinery’s capa city from the current 1.2 million tons/year to 3.0 million tons/year.
The refinery’s product quality and environment-friendly indicators will also be considerably improved through the upgrading. Meanwhile , a feasibility study for new refinery with an annual processing capacity of 10 million tons is also under way.
The Costa Rica refinery project, located in a Latin America country and close to the Panama Canal, has a logistical importance to the CNPC’s operations on the continent.
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