20/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Jorge Sauma, General Manager of CORBANA (Corporation Bananera Nacional), Costa Rica's national public organisation of banana producers, expresses in a press release dated 20 September his full support for the government's rejection of the duty of EUR 187/tonne proposed by the European Commission on imports of third country bananas into the EU (see EUROPE 9027 on the subject of the rejection of the proposal by Costa Rica and Ecuador). This amount “is still too high and discriminatory. It does not allow the banana-producing countries of Latin America (Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela) to maintain their share of the Community market”, Mr Sauma said, adding: “We will therefore continue our fight for a fair tariff”. He denounced the subsidies paid out to the EU banana-producing regions such as the Canary Islands, which enjoy a higher standard of living than the Latin American producer countries. WTO arbitrators must denounce such high tariffs used to subsidise “protected” regions, CORBANA states. Given these circumstances, Costa Rica considers it essential for the producer countries of Latin America to remain united and to respond firmly to ongoing attempts to divide Latin American countries.