Panama’s government is preparing a bill to create the Integrated Control System at the border with Costa Rica, with the aim of simplifying the transit of people, vehicles and goods between the two countries.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama reported that Alejandro Ferrer, a framework agreement signed with Costa Rica that seeks to expedite the passage of goods and people on the common border.
The agreement is to implement an integrated binational control system at the border crossings Paso Canoa, Rio Sereno and Sixaola.
The statement specifies that “… This bilateral legal instrument fulfills international and regional integration commitments, in addition to facilitating trade, reducing transport costs and increasing the competitiveness of national productions.”
Ferrer explained that it is intended that cargo handling is more efficient, so “processes at the border will be modernized with the incorporation of technology, infrastructure, and fiscal control equipment, and a single customs and migration window will be established to facilitate passage”.
The Panama and Costa Rica border is very active and through it, a good portion of the imports from Asia, Europe and North America pass to the rest of the countries of Central America.
In recent years the border has been under intense pressure due to the passage of tens of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Africa, Asia and South America whose destination is the United States.
A critical moment occurred at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 when thousands of Cubans were stranded in the border zone of Panama and Costa Rica by the closure of the Nicaraguan border to these migrants.
