35 Countries say 'yes' to the World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009
- Selections are tuning up details for Hermosa Beach's global appointment in August
- Nations and 17 teams registered, 18 more are still defining its staff
The Costa Rican Surf World, which will be held in August in Hermosa Beach of Jaco, and received confirmation of participation of 35 nations, a record figure in the global event of the best exponents of the surf.
Of all the countries who have said that it will participate in the tournament (to be held between 1 and August 8), 17 enrolled and complete their selections (four in the Open category, four more in the female branch and two longboard surfers) the other 18 nations that are sure to come to Costa Rica will soon do the registration, they are still defining the staff that they will bring the event in Jacó.
The first count of teams was confirmed for the International Surfing Association (ISA) and is waiting to receive an affirmative answer in another 19 countries that could be present in the tournament. That would raise participation to 54 nations in the world tournament.
More than one month. The deadline to register their chosen is the July 29, two days before they start the new world tournament.
"The teams who come to Costa Rica are motivated by the warm water of our coasts and the quality of our waves, which are the best in the world," said José Ureña, President of Federation de Surf de Costa Rica, explaining the coming of so many representatives in August.
The federation said that the geographical position of Costa Rica encourages the participation of more countries in the world tournament, as being in the heart of America benefits to many nations of the continent that rarely are able to travel to Asia and Europa global competitions.
Moreover, from the selections that are already registered for the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009 (the name of the event), stand out countries unprecedented in a world tournament such as Vanuatu, a small island of 12,189 square km of the distant continent of Oceania.
News Highlights!
HAS Assumes Management Of Juan Santamaria Airport, Costa Rica.
Houston Airport System (HAS) has now assumed the management, completion and expansion of the Juan Santamaria international airport in San Jose, the country's main airport.
HAS has committed to complete the current terminal within the first 18 months.
The Contraloría General de la Republica (Comptroller's office) approved the HAS takeover last May 28, when the ministra de transportes, Karla Gonzáles, announced a schedule for the terminal's completion.
The first two phases of the project will cost us$40 million dollars, while the third and fourth phase of the airport completion and expansion will cost us$150 million dollars.
As part of the expansion project, the Ministerio de ObrasPublicas y Transportes (MOPT) will relocate the operations of RECOPE and COPESA to allow for the expansion of the main terminal.
RECOPE supplies fuel, while RECOPESA provides maintenance to to all aircraft using the airport.
HAS began the completion of the current terminal several weeks ago, when it received notice of approval of a takeover from Alterra Partners, who for economic and others reasons, could not complete the work it started and had come under severe criticism of the management of the airport.
Costa Rica Ranked Happiest Nation
Costa Rica is very nearly paradise, not just for holiday-makers lounging on its beaches, but for its citizens who are extremely satisfied with their lot and also have a tiny carbon footprint. The combination has earned the Central American country first place in a new Happy Planet Index published on Monday.
Costa Rica stands out for the highest levels of reported life satisfaction, a long life expectancy of 78.5 years and because 99 percent of its energy comes from renewable sources.Latin American nations generally fare well, bagging nine out of 10 of the top spots and Sub-Saharan Africa performs very badly, with Zimbabwe taking bottom place. It scores 16.6 out of 100, compared with Costa Rica's HPI total of 76.1, according to an advance copy of the report.
Somewhere in between are the world's wealthiest economies.The United States is placed 114th out of the 143 nations surveyed, with an HPI result of 30.7 and was found to be "greener and happier" 10 years ago than today--as were China and India, ranked respectively 20th and 35th, with scores of 57.1 and 53.
Economic growth"Following the siren's song of economic growth has delivered only marginal benefits to the world's poorest while undermining the basis of their livelihoods," said Nic Marks of the New Economic Foundation, a London-based "think and do tank" that pursues "real economic well-being" and is the brains behind the HPI.
To measure the efficiency with which countries convert the earth's finite resources into their citizens' well-being, the HPI takes three separate indicators--ecological footprint, life-satisfaction and life-expectancy--and then carries out complex calculations.Within two days of the launch of the first HPI, it was downloaded and read in 185 countries worldwide.
Sources:http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/05/costa.rica.happy.nation/index.html?iref=newssearch
Costa Rica would have a fast financial recovery
- Banks are in a position to withstand a moderate stress
Since 2010 Costa Rica would be ones of the countries that would restore its economic health. For this year, predicts that production will grow by 0.5% and 2010 growth would be 1.5%.
The predictions were made by Miguel Savastano, assistant director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and are based on a previous degree of preparation by adopting appropriate policies and instruments to mitigate the impacts of external shocks.
The analysis allowed the expert to conclude that Costa Rica is among the countries of the region which could have a faster recovery next year.
The reasons are that the country's financial system is sound and that it is implementing a strong contracyclical fiscal policy, in other words, it increased public spending for infrastructure and to protect vulnerable populations.
Although direct exposure of banks to the crisis varies depending on the country, the current situation requires that there be in a state of alert before they fully realized the risks of global recession. Moreover, overall performance of the region has been quite good, Savastano said.
Apart from presenting its report, the representative of the Fund gave support to monetary policy that has followed the Central Bank and the decision to move towards a system of inflation targets. It also clarified that it is currently not possible to soften the monetary policy in the country.
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In this section we add every month important news and notes about Costa Rica that are published by national and international newspapers to keep our clients inform of different topics about Costa Rica, Pacific Sun Developments and Barcelo Hotels.
