(Inside Costa Rica) Costa Rica’s presidenta, Laura Chinchilla and her Panamanian counterpart, Ricardo Martinelli, met during the Expocomer International Fair 2011 in Panama City, a convention that promotes business, trade and investment in the Panama region, on Wednesday.
The discussions centred on strengthening economic integration and promote tourism between the two countries.
During the meeting Chinchilla and Martinelli signed also memorandum to discuss the issue of simplifying the border crossing process that would allow citizens of Costa Rica and Panama to visit each other’s country only with a “cedula” and speed up border transit by eliminating customs controls.
“Let’s make it possible for the Costa Rican and Panamanian citizens to enter the other country only with an ID and without the need of having a passport”, he said.
The presidents also pledged to better integrate Panama’s Caribbean province of Bocas Del Toro region to Golfito in Costa Rica as well as work together in a tourism campaign.
Chinchilla was chosen to inaugurate the expo and broke ground on the construction of Panama City’s new subway.