File photo Of all countries in the Americas, Costa Rica is one of the most friendly to foreign investors, particularly in terms of immigration. Immigration law in Costa Rica allows foreigners to invest $200,000 so that they can obtain the benefit of residency. The investment can be in a property, lot, business, shares in a corporation, etc., and the amount can be various investments that ad...

Wikimedia Commons CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (“CEMEX”) (NYSE: CX) announced earlier this month that its subsidiary, CEMEX Latam Holdings, S.A. ("CLH") (BVC: CLH), participated in the expansion and improvement of a section of the Inter-American Highway, the main road in the Costa Rican highway system. CLH supplied approximately 200,000 tons of high-strength cement for this highway’s expansion, a ...

Wikimedia Commons Virgin America Inc. today announced that the merger agreement with Alaska Air Group, Inc., the parent company of Alaska Airlines, Inc., was approved by an affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Virgin America voting common stock. A report reflecting the complete voting results will be available on a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed la...

Source: PRC FM Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez Sanz of Costa Rica in Beijing. Wang Yi expressed that Costa Rica is an important cooperative partner of China in Central America. China is willing to join hands with Costa Rica to further promote exchanges between government departments, legislative bodies and political parties of bo...

Costa Rican president, Luis Guillermo Solis tours the Reventazon hydroelectric plant while still under construction in 2014. (Casa Presidencial)Fitch Ratings has affirmed Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad y Subsidiarias' (Grupo ICE) foreign- and local-currency Issuer Default Ratings (FC/LC IDRs) at 'BB+' and its National Scale ratings at 'AAA(cri)' and 'AAA(slv)'. The Rating Outlook remains...

Source:; Getinge GroupSan Jose, July 21st 2016. Getinge Group announced the establishment of its new Shared Services Center (SSC) in Costa Rica. The new office, located in Avenida Escazu, employs 59 associates who provide services to partners and customers in United States and Canada. The services provided are in Finance and Accounting, with the possibility of expanding into other areas such a...

Salty website Shooting on Antonio Banderas' new feature, "Salty," will conclude this week in the Chilean cities of Santiago and Valparaiso, the filmmakers said Thursday. The culture, people and landscapes of Chile made the country an ideal location for the film, director Simon West said in a statement. "Salty" tells the story of a decadent Spanish rocker and recovering sex addict (Banderas)...

By Wendy Anders Neighbors in downtown San José’s Otoya neighborhood had their effort to halt construction of a condominium upheld yesterday by Costa Rica’s highest court, reported the Costa Rican digital elmundocr.com. In a unanimous resolution, #2016-009494, the constitutional court found that Condominio City Plaza II does not have certain permits in place and that the building site is loc...

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. ("Bladex" or "the Bank"; NYSE: BLX) announced the recent closing of a US$125 million, dual tranche (2 years and 3 years), senior unsecured amortizing term loan facility in favor of Scotiabank de Costa Rica S.A. ("Scotiabank Costa Rica"), the second largest privately-owned bank in Costa Rica. Scotiabank Costa Rica is ultimately owned by the Bank o...

Source: Villa ThogaCould you make it on less than $1,000 per month in Tamarindo Beach, one of the most desirable and upscale real estate markets in Costa Rica? According to a recent article by Jackie Minchillo of International Living, there is a Canadian expat in Tamarindo whose monthly household payments, including rent, are between $400 and $450 per month. Graham Cooper was born in Englan...

Villa Punto de VistaVilla Punto de Vista, a 10-bedroom luxury private villa situated on 2 1/2 acres of tropical reserve in Costa Rica, will be featured in the upcoming broadcast of Life's A Beach on Travel Channel. Life's A Beach focuses on real-life stories of people who left their workaday life to pursue their dream of owning a slice of heaven in a beach paradise. Viewers get an inside look at ...

AuxisAuxis, a leading management consulting and outsourcing firm providing both IT and business process services, is pleased to announce that it has been named by IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) as a “Top Company” for two categories—Customer References and Overall Revenue As Rising Star. “We are honored by this listing and humbled to be in such great company with ...

Source: MicrosoftStockholm – July 13th, 2016 – Millicom’s Tigo Business brand and Microsoft today announce a Microsoft Cloud OS Network (COSN) partnership to deliver cloud computing benefits to businesses in the Latam region. The partnership will enable the delivery of innovative applications and cloud services to the business community in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador...

Wikimedia Commons The latest Central America Country Risk Report by Business Monitor International is now available, and it paints as less than optimistic picture for Costa Rica. Central American outperformers Costa Rica and Panama are facing a more challenging road ahead in the coming years. As real GDP growth slows in Panama on the back of the end of canal construction, establishing fisca...

Kreston International, the global network of independent accounting firms, has announced that is has admitted Díaz & Zeledón, Costa Rica, to membership. Founded in 2001 and based in San José, Díaz & Zeledón offers the full range of audit and accounting services. Kreston CEO Jon Lisby, comments: "We are delighted to strengthen our resource in Latin America with the admittance of Díaz ...

Wikimedia Commons Grupo LALA S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican company focused on the healthy food industry, ("LALA") (BMV: LALA B) announces that it has signed a strategic agreement with the Costa Rican company Florida Bebidas, S.A. ("Florida"), for the production, distribution and sale of LALA® products in Costa Rica. This strategic agreement will provide LALA access to a platform to strengthen i...

Waning economic growth in many countries and higher home prices further enhanced by a strengthening United States dollar resulted in a slight decline in international sales dollar volume of U.S. property over the past year and a significant retreat in buying from non-resident foreigners. This is according to an annual survey of residential purchases from international buyers released today by t...

BioNovelus BioNovelus, Inc.  is pleased to announce the results of its biodegradable fungicide, CR-10, after six months of Coffee Rust testing in Costa Rica. CoopeAgri R.L, one of the largest cooperative in Costa Rica, has released the CR-10 performance data. The results show that eco-friendly CR-10 has not only brought the coffee rust to a level of 0% in all the tested coffee plantations, ...

By Wendy Anders In June GrupoQ Corporation opened a state-of-the-art digital showroom for its new Hyundai models on the first floor of Alajuela’s City Mall, adjacent to the Juan Santamaría International Airport. This novel showroom, the first of its kind in Latin America, allows potential buyers to experience different car models on digital screens in addition to viewing the cars themselves,...

        Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the most dynamic technological areas in Costa Rica. It includes more than 900 companies, 95 percent of which are SMEs, becoming an interesting sector with important challenges related to international collaboration and partnership. Joining this strategic sector with national priorities and inter...

By Wendy Anders New Costa Rica Marine Fuel Dock Nears Completion The Costa Rican State Oil Refinery (Recope) announced the completion of 85 percent of the work on a new marine terminal for receiving petroleum at the Moín, Limón port on the Caribbean coast. Last week, the construction of the dock’s five arms was completed, said Recope. Engineer Reina Naranjo who is in charge of the proj...

Source: USTDA San José, Costa Rica – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Costa Rican electric utility, Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.A. (CNFL), for a feasibility study to support the deployment of networked light emitting diode (LED) street lights throughout CNFL’s service territory. By installing nearly 100,000 “smart” street lights, including LED luminar...

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. (“Bladex” or “the Bank”; NYSE: BLX) announced the recent closing of a US$85 million, three year, syndicated loan facility in favor of Banco BAC San José, S.A. (“BAC San José”), the largest privately-owned bank in Costa Rica. BAC San José is a subsidiary of BAC Credomatic Inc., a leading Central American banking group with operations in Costa Rica...

Safran Identity & Security, the global leader in identity and security, has announced it is expanding its business activities in Central America. The company has acquired the former office location of the Colombian-based Carvajal Group in Costa Rica. For Safran Identity & Security, this new location marks another important strategic development for its business activities in Central Ame...

In Costa Rica, funds destined to finance projects of the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (MOPT) are usually managed by national banks where deposits are unconditionally guaranteed by the government. For this reason, the MOPT Minister is now being questioned as to why he chose a private, international bank to handle more than $450 million. Minister Carlos Villalta has explained that ...

Source: Heineken Despite volatile global markets and growing security issues, organizations continue to leverage global expansion strategies to remain competitive and to grow. Yet, few organizations are prepared for the challenges world events have on their business, including the impact on cost of expatriate packages. Mercer’s 22nd annual Cost of Living Survey finds that factors including ...

The multinational consulting firm McKinsey & Company, dedicated to helping institutions in the private, public and social sectors achieve lasting success, today welcomed Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Trade Alexander Mora to the firm’s facility in San José, where McKinsey recently added a modern design center that will support the firm’s global operations. The firm’s Costa Rica facility ...

Wikimedia Commons To be able to celebrate the Panama Canal expansion is, for many Panamanians, experiencing a milestone of their ancestors, who witnessed the first transit through the waterway 102 years ago, so they went out today to dance, which is how they express themselves best. The afternoon of Jun. 26, when the Chinese container ship Cosco Shipping Panama made the inaugural transit th...

Pixabay Commons Of all immigration proceedings available to foreigners in Costa Rica, the process of getting a work permit for employees is one of the most Byzantine. What makes getting work permits in Costa Rica so complicated is that more than one government agency is involved in the process. The Directorate of Immigration and the Ministry of Labor must review the applications before they...

Cartoon by Clay Jones Amid high security, presumptive Republican candidate for United States presidency, Donald Trump, visited Scotland where he was due to inaugurate his luxury hotel and golf complex Friday. Arriving by helicopter, Trump said the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union was a "great thing" and that the British people had "taken back their country." Accordin...

Close up of a Marijuana plant flowering during the final stages of growth. EFE/file San Jose, Costa Rica will be the site of the Latin American Medical Cannabis Conference, July 28-29th at the Crown Plaza Hotel,. Top- level Cannabis industry speakers, from the U.S., Colombia, Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica will address topics related to the Medical Cannabis field. There will be full translation s...

Bionovelus Phoenix, June 22, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioNovelus, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: ONOV) is pleased to announce that four thousand (4,000) bottles of its biodegradable fungicide, CR-10, the answer to killing coffee rust, has been manufactured for delivery to Costa Rica. Mr. Jean Ekobo, President/CEO of BioNovelus, Inc., says, "This CR-10 allotment is slotted for ongoing tests with our partne...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Last year, Costa Rica received over one million North American visitors who arrived in the country by air, and over 13 percent of these directly associated to business related travel. In recognition of the key role that the meetings industry has on the country, Costa Rica joined hundreds of other nations around the world to support the first ever Global Meetings Industry Day...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — CooperVision has opened a new, 100,000 square-foot, high-volume manufacturing facility at Coyol Industrial Park in Alajuela, Costa Rica, the company announced earlier this week. The Costa Rica plant is the company’s second site for clariti 1-day silicone hydrogel lens manufacturing, joining an existing facility in Budapest, Hungary. CooperVision also maintains high-volume...

Both mature and developing alcoholic drinks categories in Costa Rica experienced increased competition in 2015 - a development which, along with product innovation and changing consumer value expectations, were the main sales drivers within the area during 2015. Volume and value growth remained limited in 2015, with there being a clear trend towards modest pricing and an increase in the penetratio...

Source: Kinetos COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 25th, 2016 STL Marketing Group, Inc. (OTC: STLK), the "Company", has created a new 51% owned subsidiary to handle the sale and commercialization of the Hound Software product that has been developed by Kinetos, S.A., a Costa Rican privately held corporation ("Kinetos"). Kinetos owns the remaining 49% of the subsidiary...

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AirXpanders Inc. (ASX: AXP) (AirXpanders or Company) a medical device company focused on the design, manufacture, sale and distribution of the AeroForm® tissue expander, today announces that it has received commitments from sophisticated and professional investors to subscribe for 26,315,790 CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs) (representing 8,771,930 s...

Natural Sins chips NEW YORK, June 10, 2016 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Costa Rican food companies are showcasing the country's diverse selection of organic snacks, premium roasted coffee, chocolate, and specialty food products when they attend the 2016 Fancy Food Show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in NYC on June 26-28. In addition, Essential Costa Rica is inviting the media to sample pro...

Wikimedia Commons Panama City, Jun 11 (EFE).- The container ship Cosco Shipping Panama, which on June 26 will be the first to pass through the expanded Panama Canal, set sail Saturday from the port of Piraeus, Greece, on its way to this Central American country, official sources said. Canal administrator Jorge Luis Quijano, currently in Greece with a delegation of the Panama Canal Authority...

Costa Rican president, Luis Guillermo Solis tours the Reventazon hydroelectric plant while still under construction in 2014. (Casa Presidencial) By Douglas Marin Siquirres, Costa Rica, Jun 11 (EFE).- Considered the second largest work of infrastructure in the region after the Panama Canal, the Reventazon Hydroelectric Plant on Costa Rica's Caribbean side, is getting its finishing touches be...