For the first time since 1959, the leaders of Costa Rica and Cuba held an official meeting, when Laura Chinchilla met with Raul Csastro after the end of the I Cumbre de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (Celac) – First Summit of Latin America and Caribbean, held in Santiago de Chile.
Costa Rica’s Chinchilla and Cub’a Castro stressed cooperation between the two countries in fields of education, health, environment and culture.
During the summit, Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister, Enrique Castillo, signed the cooperation and framework agreement reached on January 10 in Havana.
Costa Rica unilaterally broke diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961 and resumed in 2009. Since, the Costa Rica’s director of foreign policy, the vice-chancelloer and minister of Culture, Environment and Foreign Affairs have all visited Cuba, meanwhile Cuban Culture Minister, Rafael Beral visited Costa Rica last November,
Cuba will chair the forum CELAC in 2013 and Costa Rica in 2014.
Iin other meetings held during the summit in Chile, Chinchilla arranged a visit to Costa Rica by Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, on Feb. 19. She also pledged to support the entry of the Dominican Republic as a full member of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and strengthening economic ties with Spain.
