Pura Vida - Costa Rica's Sustainable Success Story

Pura Vida - Costa Rica's Sustainable Success Story with Andres Valenciano

In this episode, Andres Valenciano, Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade, joins Robin as they explore measuring happiness in countries, growth of trade, the impact of conservation and building relationships with other countries to expand trade. Minister Valenciano shares insight on the “Pura Vida” of Costa Rica, their long history of democracy, their recent joining of the OECD and his thoughts on the future of the WTO.

Topics in this conversation include:

• Minister Valenciano explains “Pura Vida” and how that portrays the culture and happiness of Costa Rica as well as how happiness is measured in countries around the world. 2:12
• Long-standing democracy and the recognition of the importance of universal education, social security and universal health care have all led to the political and social stability of Costa Rica. 8:01
• Minister Valenciano discusses Costa Rica’s focus on sustainable development, explaining their work to reverse deforestation, awarding of Payments for Environmental Services and why the people of Costa Rica understand the purpose behind sustainability. 12:53
• Costa Rica looks for trading partners who have the same vision for driving job creation, environmental goals, gender equality, digitalization of services and e-commerce. 23:34
• The Buyers Trade Mission is a 3-week event that will be hosted by Costa Rica in late September 2021 to showcase the diversity of products that can be found in Costa Rica and to connect potential buyers with exporters of goods from Costa Rica. 30:57

For the full episode, visit: https://podcast.wtca.org/podcast/13-pura-vida-costa-ricas-sustainable-success-story/

Trade Wins is a podcast designed specifically to be thought-provoking and to provide insights from leading experts to help us navigate today’s changing environment. We aim to contribute to the empowerment of our global membership and their business networks in the world of global trade and investment.