Solar Energy Park in Guanacaste, Costa Rica MARYLAND HEIGHTS Mo., June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), the world's largest renewable energy development company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy (GME), Central America's leading renewable energy company. SunEdison will acquire a 70 percent inter...

New York, June 18, 2015 – Although Costa Rica continues to draw investors from around the world, challenges remain when it comes to boosting investment levels. Since taking office, President Luis Guillermo Solís has worked to increase the volume and nature of foreign direct investment. Despite the region’s weakening trade environment, the International Monetary Fund projects Costa Rica’s GDP to gr...

Rainforest in Costa Rica Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) June 16, 2015 -- Protected forested areas in Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Thailand have prevented the release of more than 1,000 million additional tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, an economic service provided by nature worth at least $5 billion, according to new research by Georgia State University economist Paul Ferraro with a...

Source: Renovatio Austin, Texas (PRWEB) June 15, 2015 -- Renovatio Cloud Solutions (http://www.renovatiocloud.com), a market-leader in custom cloud based enterprise software solutions, has announced the official opening of its Costa Rican operations in San Jose, Costa Rica. The new operations will enhance the company’s delivery of enterprise solutions that maximize the ROI on mobility, cloud, ...

Source: Mondelez SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA--(Marketwired - Jun 15, 2015) - Mondelez International, proud maker of iconic brands such as Gallito and Oreo biscuits, Tang beverages, Trident gum and Halls candy, announced today that it has chosen Costa Rica as the location for a new Employee services (Human Resources) center that will support its North America business. The company confirmed tha...

US Commerce Department building. Wikimedia Commons June 8 2015 -US Dept. of Commerce- American businesses are expanding their networks to include Central American countries as additional markets for their goods and services. With assistance from the Commerce Department’s Foreign Commercial Service, two U.S. companies are establishing new global export markets within Costa Rica. The first co...

Sylvania Costa Rica By Carolina Ruiz Global unit shipments of LED lamps and modules are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% between 2015 and 2024, revealed the latest Navigant Research report on this matter. This report analyzes the global market for LED lamps and modules across all major space lighting uses, as well as market issues, including drivers and tre...

Nearly 100 participants from Latin America and the Caribbean learned how to apply credit union advocacy lessons in their respective countries. Source: CU Insight SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA (May 29, 2015) CU Insight Press Release — CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan and Senior Vice President of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions and Affiliates Jared Ross shared best practices and key prin...

The Greenback When the Central Bank of Costa Rica announced its decision to forego the currency exchange bands and allow the United States dollar (USD) to flow with greater freedom against the Costa Rica colón (CRC), many budget-conscious travelers thought that the end of tight monetary intervention would signal a period of affordable vacations in our country. However, that has hardly been the...

San Jose, Costa Rica, (IFC Press Release) — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Green Building Council of Costa Rica (GBC-CR), today launched the EDGE green building certification system in Costa Rica to bolster eco-friendly construction and resource efficiency in new buildings. The launch took place during the GBC-CR International Green Building Congress: “Habitat and Sustainable Citie...

Frankfurt and San José, 05 May 2015 - eco.business Fund has lent USD 10 million to Banco Davivienda Costa Rica to support companies that follow best practices in sectors such as agriculture or fisheries. These companies are certified by entities such as FairTrade International or Rainforest Alliance. The recently launched eco.business Fund promotes the conservation of biodiversity in Latin Amer...

BICSA in Panama. Wikimedia Commons NEW YORK & SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has affirmed Banco Internacional de Costa Rica's (BICSA) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB+' and its Viability Rating (VR) at 'bb' following a peer review of Panama's midsized banks. Fitch also affirmed BICSA's National Ratings in Panama. The Rating Outlook for the bank's IDR and Long-T...

President Solis KANNAPOLIS, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Costa Rica and the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) are signing an education cooperation agreement that will allow training opportunities for Costa Rican scientists at the NCRC. The signing of this agreement is part of one of the objectives of the investment promotion tour headed by President Luis Guillermo Solis, the Minister of Forei...

Washington, May 12 (EFE).- The volume of remittances received in Latin America last year topped the previous high of $65 billion reached in 2008, the Inter-American Development Bank said Tuesday, crediting the increase to an improving U.S. economy. Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014 totaled $65.38 billion, according to figures compiled by the IDB. The economic crisis cont...

AOL New York, May 12 (EFE).- Telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. said Tuesday it was acquiring digital content provider AOL Inc. for $4.4 billion. Verizon is paying $50 per share for AOL, a premium of 17.4 percent over the stock's closing price of $42.59 on Monday. "Verizon's vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network plat...

COYOL, Costa Rica (May 6, 2015) – For the second year in a row, Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has received a Shingo award from the prestigious Shingo Institute, part of the Jon R. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.  The company’s facility located at Coyol, in the Alajuela province of  Costa Rica, has earned the Shingo Bronze Medallion for successfully delivering on s...

Wikimedia Commons JAMPRO/Go-Jamaica -- Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, the Honourable G. Anthony Hylton and Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora signed an agreement last week in Costa Rica to cement a trading partnership between both nations. The Jamaican and Costa Rican governments seek to take advantage of the countries’ close locations, improve their exis...

STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Millicom (NASDAQ:MICC) (STO:MIC), today issued the following statement regarding the status of its proposed merger with Telecable Costa Rica which was announced in December 2014. Millicom, trading as Tigo in Costa Rica, has confirmed that its petition to merge with TeleCable Económico TVE, S.A has not been sanctioned by regulators Superintendencia de Telecomunicacion...

Source: Flickr CC Now that Costa Rica has been formally invited to go through the process of becoming a candidate nation worthy of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), financial advisors and legal professionals are starting to ponder how their clients will be impacted by this new chapter in our country's fiscal history. For Costa Rica, membership in the ...

Longline tuna haul. Source: Greenpeace. Washington, Apr 23 (EFE).- Oceans are worth at least $24 trillion, but their economic value is threatened by pollution, climate change and overexploitation, according to a report published by the World Wide Fund for Nature, or WWF. Working with The Boston Consulting Group and the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute, WWF appraised the oc...

Source: Pixabay Commons (San Jose, April 15, 2015) Convergys Newsroom – Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), global leader in customer management, is hiring 250 new employees for two of its top technology programs. The hiring profile includes English proficiency and internet skills. The company is also hiring Network Engineers with experience in security, routing or switching who want to develop...

By Jorge Mederos Chicago, Apr 21 (EFE).- Private prisons that have contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress to keep a steady population of 34,000 migrants detained at all times, a study by the Austin, Texas-based Grassroots Leadership group found. Grassroots Leadership researched detention conditions across the country and c...

The medical use of marijuana by the public healthcare system of Costa Rica, known as La Caja, could generate $9 million in revenue, a figure that would be equivalent to 0.2 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP). Such is a legislative proposal that was presented last year by lawmaker Marvin Atencio, who represents the ruling Citizens' Action political party (Spanish initials: PAC). ...

By Alfonso Fernandez. Washington, Apr 15 (EFE).- The World Bank said Wednesday that the economic slowdown in Latin America could become "permanent" if structural reforms are not made to adapt the growth model to an international scenario in which China will also slow down economically and the prices of raw materials will remain at low levels. "In the absence of growth-friendly structural ref...

Source: OVSICORI PRLog - April 2, 2015 - SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – A few weeks ago, specifically during the 12 and 13 March 2015 weekend, the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica showed significant activity, putting on alert not only the people in surrounding towns but even people in cities as far as Heredia and San José due to high concentration of volcanic ashes flowing far and wide. What worries pe...

Source: Pixabay Commons London, UK (April 2, 2015) - iDisrupted - Burlington, USA was one of the first cities in the world to run on renewable energy and now Costa Rica has becomes the first country to do so. This is a huge achievement for Costa Rica but a huge worry for traditional energy companies says author of new book iDisrupted. An environmental milestone has been achieved for Cost...

Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Apr 12 (EFE).- Mining companies negotiate with the drug cartels operating in their areas, making arrangements for exploration projects, Mexican Association of Mining, Metallurgical and Geological Engineers, or AIMMGM, president Manuel Reyes said.   "We ask the mafia for permission, the organized crime groups, and we are able to (operate). Things get re...

Source: Presidencia Costa Rica At the 2015 Summit of the Americas in Panama, President Barack Obama of the United States called a special Civil Society Forum, to which only President Luis Guillermo Solís of Costa Rica and Tabaré Vásquez were invited. The topics discussed included: Education, support for the development of small businesses, technical support for the production of clean energy, ...

Panama City, Apr 10 (EFE).- U.S. President Barack Obama and Panamanian counterpart Juan Carlos Varela were on hand for a ceremony here Friday in which Panama's Copa Airlines and Chicago-based plane maker Boeing finalized an order for 61 jets. The $6.6 billion deal for 61 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 airplanes was signed ahead of the inauguration of the April 10-11 Summit of the Americas in this c...

OECD member nations as of mid-2015. Wikimedia Commons The Republic of Costa Rica may soon be shedding her “Third World” geopolitical label and join the ranks of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As you can glean from the official OECD press release below, Costa Rica is getting closer to joining a forum of nations that are committed to uphold democracy as well a...

San Jose, March 31, 2015 (CINDE). The services sector company, Akamai, plans to expand its operations in Costa Rica in the coming months due to the Costa Rican human talent and the quality of exported services. The company dedicated to improving the speed and safety with which people access Internet services, plans to increase its payroll by 60 new positions by 2016 and will expand its current off...

Source: Vestas Vestas, a leading Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines, recently signed a firm and unconditional order with Fila de Mogote, a subsidiary of US-based Hunt Energy Horizons (Hunt Oil), for the 21 MW Mogote wind power plant in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. According to a press release by Vestas, the company will supply and install seven ...

Source: Ad Astra March 30, 2015 (NASA Press Release) - Building on the success of NASA’s partnerships with commercial industry to date, NASA has selected 12 Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) to advance concept studies and technology development projects in the areas of advanced propulsion, habitation and small satellites. Through these public-private partnershi...

Former President Chinchilla at IBM function New York, Mar 31 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Technology giant IBM announced Tuesday that it will invest some $3 billion over the next four years to create a new unit dubbed the Internet of Things, or IoT, based on the interconnection of everyday objects with the Web. The company, as it explained in a communique, seeks to m...

Credit: Sean MacEntee, Flickr Commons The real cost of borrowing money with credit cards in Costa Rica runs about 40 to 50 percent for the majority of cardholders. Despite the seemingly usurious interest rates, the use of credit cards in our country, which is besieged by rising inflation and looming unemployment, has grown about 7.3 percent since last year. According to a news report filed ...

Source: Pixabay Commons One of the most talked-about headlines coming from Costa Rica in recent days is an announcement from the Ministry of the Environment and the national electricity monopoly ICE. The announcement explains that electricity generation thus far this year has been realized without resorting to fossil fuels, which means it mostly came from hydroelectric plants and wind turbi...

Pressbox UK (Press Release) - Costa Rica is not only popular for her tourism attractions; the country is gaining popularity for professional software development services as well. Many businesses from across the Americas decide to opt for software outsourcing in Costa Rica services. If you are operating from a neighbouring country and thinking whether software development can be done inhouse or wh...

Miami, Mar 20 (EFE).- The South Florida ferry company CubaKat is planning to start very soon operating trips by sea to Cuba from Marathon in the Florida Keys, the company said Friday. "CubaKat's goal is to offer our ferry service, from the Florida Keys to ports within Cuba, some time in 2015. Currently, we're working with officials from both countries to make this venture a reality," the compan...

Pixabay Commons Panama City, Mar 18 (EFE).- Europe is concerned about its loss of influence in Latin America and China's growing presence in the region, one of the co-presidents of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, or Eurolat, said here. "We worry about no longer being the big economic partner that Europe has been for many Latin American countries, and about being replaced by ...

Source: Pixabay Commons San Jose, Mar 17 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Clean energy sources have been used to generate 100 percent of the electricity this year in Costa Rica, the state-owned Costa Rican Electricity Institute, or ICE, said. "The year 2015 has been one of electricity totally friendly to the environment for Costa Rica. According to National Electric Syst...