By Peter Alagos
Costa Rica has its eyes set on making Qatar its gateway to the Middle East for various economic and trade-related initiatives, said the country’s Minister of Foreign Trade Alexander Mora.
“We see Qatar as the gateway to our economic and inter-political initiatives in the Middle East region. This reciprocity is a natural connection that we should be taking advantage in a much better way,” said Mora in an interview with Gulf Times here.
Mora, who was in Qatar on a two-day visit recently, met with HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani and officials of Qatar Investment Authority’s (QIA) Hassad Food.
With 10% of its total GDP derived from the agro-business sector, Mora said the meetings revolved around the export of Costa Rica’s tropical fruits, grains, flowers, meats, and other produce to the Middle East through Qatar.
Nestled between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Costa Rica is also looking to Qatar to help it develop its ocean economy, which, according to Mora, remains untapped.
“We do not have a strong tradition in fishing but we ambition to develop our waters as a source of production, which is why we think that Qatar can be a good partner to help us develop this initiative,” Mora stressed.
Mora said he had also met with Qatar Chamber officials and discussed the involvement of the private sector in future projects, as well as plans to bring a Qatari business delegation to Costa Rica by September 2015 to strengthen bilateral relations.
According to Mora, trade volume between Qatar and Costa Rica peaked at around $12mn in the last 10 years. He noted that while direct trade volume is low, statistics do not include Costa Rican products being imported by Qatar from Europe.
Costa Rica’s main markets are the US and Europe. Mora explained that many food products like coffee and chocolates, as well as pineapple and other tropical fruits are repackaged by European importers and then exported to Qatar. “This gives us the certainty that we can export our products directly to Qatar,” said Mora, who also stressed that plans for direct trade links would be developed with both the public sector and private companies during trade delegation visits.
He added, “In order to assure long-term sustainability, Qatar is interested in investing on the other end of the chain. The idea is to link this initiative through the capacities of, for example, Hassad Food, for them to be part of this equation.”
The trade minister said his office had already exchanged data with Hassad Food to identify potential initiatives and “specific niches of opportunity” like the distribution of organic food and other “healthy products.”
Mora: Good partnership.
