By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- One of the Western Hemisphere's most important financial lending institutions, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), has welcomed Costa Rica's entry into a new free-trade agreement with the United States.

In a January 26 statement, the IDB offered its support to help Costa Ricans "maximize the benefits of the new accord," known as the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The IDB said the CAFTA nations now face the "challenge of implementing policies that will allow them to benefit fully from the advantages of free trade" and to "distribute the fruits equitably and protect groups affected by changing economic conditions."

Since the start of the CAFTA negotiations, the IDB said it has helped the Central American nations identify trade-related capacity-building needs and provide financial and technical resources to strengthen their trade policy management and CAFTA agreement implementation.

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua completed their negotiations with the United States in December to establish CAFTA. Costa Rica took part in the same rounds, but did not finish its negotiations with the United States until January 25.

That same day, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced Costa Rica's approval of the trade pact, saying the Central American nation "needed a little more time to complete its participation in the CAFTA, and we're very pleased it has joined" its neighbors in the region "in this cutting-edge, modern FTA [free-trade agreement] designed to expand trade between friends and neighbors."

Meanwhile, Zoellick's Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released a draft text in English of the CAFTA. The preamble to the agreement says the United States and the five nations in CAFTA will create new employment opportunities and improve working conditions and living standards in their respective states. In addition, the preamble says CAFTA will be implemented in a "manner consistent with environmental protection and conservation," and will "promote sustainable development, and strengthen" cooperation on environmental matters.

The preamble says further that CAFTA will "provide an impetus toward the establishment" of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which aims to create a free-trade zone stretching from Canada to Argentina.

The draft agreement is available on the USTR web site at: www.ustr.gov.