Costa Rica Accuses Panama Of Disguising Food Blockade

(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama) Costa Rica, through the National Chamber of Milk Producers, accused Panama on Friday, January 24, of its blockade of certain foods being a“protectionist policy disguised with health pretexts.”
Ivannia Quesada, president of the organization, issued a new press release in which the association expresses its“dissatisfaction and discomfort” over Panama's decision to appeal the ruling of the World Trade Organization (WTO) of December 5, 2024, where Costa Rica was favored after a consultation on the prohibition of entry of certain foods into the Panamanian market since 2020.
“We deeply regret the decision of the Panamanian government to appeal, even though the ruling of the WTO arbitration panel strongly indicates that the measures imposed on imports of dairy products from Costa Rica have no scientific basis or valid technical justification, but rather sought to unjustifiably block exports of Costa Rican dairy products. Likewise, the panel of experts was categorical in determining that Panama failed to comply with international regulations regarding the measure imposed on the import of dairy products from Costa Rica. It is our opinion that the decision to appeal is a delaying tactic used by the previous Panamanian government to avoid resolving once and for all a conflict that, above all, has affected consumers in this country,” said President Quesada.
“Between 2020 and 2021, both the national government and the private sector made countless attempts to resolve the conflict, always reaching a dead end due to the lack of will of the Panamanian authorities. For us, it is more than evident that this blockade has its origin in the application of a protectionist policy disguised with health pretexts, which was exposed by the result of the arbitration panel's ruling. This reality contrasts with what is indicated in the Panamanian government statement, which indicates the will to resolve this conflict and other pending issues as would correspond to sister, neighboring and partner countries through bilateral dialogue,” said the businesswoman whose union has been in operation for 60 years.
Quesada maintains that what is indicated in the arbitration ruling, which indicates that“the prohibition against Costa Rica arbitrarily and unjustifiably discriminates against 16 establishments in Costa Rica with respect to establishments in Peru and New Zealand.”
“This is especially paradoxical when there is discrimination against a neighboring and sister country, such as Costa Rica, which has believed in the potential for developing milk production in Panama and has made multi-million dollar investments in the Panamanian dairy industry, becoming the largest buyer of Grade A milk in the country and which has intervened in solidarity to support other Panamanian dairy industries on various occasions so as not to affect producers, such as during the social crises of 2022 and 2023. We sincerely fail to understand these actions by our sister country,” he stated in his writing.
According to the organization that Quesada represents,“the Panamanian government did not act in good faith when it rejected the proposal of the Costa Rican government for both countries to adopt an agreement that would effectively allow the possibility of appealing and receiving a ruling within a certain time, given that the WTO Appellate Body is disabled. This proposal rejected by Panama was based on Article 25 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), according to which a possible appeal could be made through arbitration subject to a certain time period. This alternative procedure has proven to be an effective way to address the absence of an Appellate Body and is used by many countries that, acting in good faith and with the intention of resolving their differences at a technical level, have agreed to and used it for several years. Such is the case of countries such as Canada, the European Union, Japan, Colombia or Chile.”
“Panama's decision to resort to the appeal mechanism that perpetuates the blockade in practice undoubtedly portrays Panama's true intentions to continue maintaining unjustified protectionist practices, highlighting the fragility of its technical argument, as demonstrated by the arbitration panel,” said the businesswoman.
In light of these contradictions, Quesada concluded his statement by stating that“this Chamber would be asking the government of the Republic to consider rethinking the relations between Costa Rica and Panama in transcendental areas such as international collaboration, migration, and regional integration, in light of the extremely high level of legal uncertainty and disrespect for bilateral and multilateral treaties that the Costa Rican dairy sector has suffered from the Panamanian government.”
Although the dairy producers' associations represented in the Technical Committee for the Panamanian Dairy Sector (Pro Lácteos) categorically clarified that“Panama has not registered increases in consumer prices or shortages attributable to the suspension of Costa Rican imports,” Quesada, representing the National Chamber of Milk Producers, insists that Panama's actions are“to the detriment of Panamanian consumers and causing a shortage in the Panamanian market of high-quality and safe Costa Rican dairy products, necessary to help supply between 40 and 50% of their consumption needs,” and that, in addition, with this appeal,“the Panamanian government is ignoring a three-year process within the dispute resolution mechanism in which it had an active participation and representation; it is also ignoring the framework for global trade regulation represented in the WTO.”
Pro Lácteos is made up of the National Association of Cattle Ranchers (Anagan), the Association of Dairy Cattle Producers of Panama (Aprogalpa) and the Association of Milk Producers of Central Provinces (Aplepc).

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