US Chooses Costa Rica as the headquarters of its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in Latin America.

The USA has chosen Costa Rica to locate the headquarters for the Food and Drug Administration in Latin America, because of its strategic location in the middle of the continent and also because of the excellent relations that already exist between the two countries.

Andrew von Eschenbach, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that on his first visit to the Costa Rican capital, he was impressed by the infrastructure of the health care industry and by the quality of the food.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, who also visited San Jose for the official opening, emphasized the importance of the two countries joining forces to guarantee food safety, clarifying that it's not simply a matter of the U.S. limiting access, but a requirement of globalization.

Leavitt said that FDA is not just opening a new office, but rather signaling a new era of change in the country’s strategy to address the demands of world trade. The aim is to monitor a product from the time it is registered until it is exported. "We’re at a critical moment in our trade relationship in that we must guarantee that products are safe to enter," Leavitt stressed, also confirming that, for the United States, Costa Rica is the most important trading partner in the region.

Within three months, the office will open with a six-person staff, and together with the free trade agreement that is now in effect with the United States, exports to Costa Rica’s main trading partner are expected to rise.

To read the full article by Grettel Prendas of the The Central America Times (grettel.prendas@rimolamedios.com) please click here.