718.652/8
The Minister in Costa Rica ( Eberhardt ) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 11.]
Sir: In continuation of despatch No. 1085–G (page 10—section II-h) of September 12, 1932,6 I have the honor to report that a [Page 268] temporary customs agreement was signed at this capital on January 3, 1933 between the Italian Minister to Costa Rica, Count V. Negri, and Dr. Leonidas Pacheco, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic.7 This temporary agreement, qualified as a modus vivendi, was effected through an exchange of notes and was for the purpose of granting most-favored-nation customs privileges to the two countries, pending completion of the present negotiations for a treaty of Commerce and Navigation.
According to my Foreign Office informant, this modus vivendi will not require any concessions on the part of Costa Rica, whose tariff system is “single column”; but it will facilitate Costa Rican exports to Italy through placing these products in the most-favored-nation tariff classification. My informant added that through this concession on the part of Italy, Costa Rican coffee imports into that country will benefit by a tariff reduction of approximately $7.00 per metric ton.
Count Negri arrived at San José during the latter days of December 1932 and has taken a house here with the avowed intention of staying for at least two months. He has remarked that the sole purpose of his trip is to arrange for a treaty of Commerce and Navigation. I have been told at the Foreign Office that the treaty now contemplated will be very similar to the one signed during October 1932 with Germany,8 and not along the lines of the document which was transmitted with despatch No. 641 of October 14, 1931.9
Respectfully yours,
Secretary of Legation
- Not printed.↩
- Reference is evidently to the provisional commercial agreement effected by exchange of notes, dated December 21 and December 23, 1932, and ratified by Costa Rica and Italy in January 1933; Italy, R. Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Trattati e Convenzioni fra il Regno d’Italia e gli Altri Stati, vol. 45, pp. 509–511.↩
- For text of treaty signed October 26, 1932, see British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cxxxv, p. 470.↩
- Not printed.↩