Costa Rica announces its own international aid policy

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel González and Planning Minister Olga Sánchez presented an updated international cooperation policy during the president’s weekly press conference at Casa Presidencial on Tuesday.

The ministers said the new policy would better focus Costa Rica’s resources toward “south-south” cooperation between developing nations, with a focus on environment, social development, transparency and other priorities laid out in the National Development Plan and foreign policy.

González said that Costa Rica has grown into an “important partner” in international cooperation and assistance, and no longer eligible for much foreign aid since it’s designation as an “upper middle income” nation.

“Costa Rica has become an important partner for other countries, especially in technical cooperation,” González said during the press conference.

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís and Bolivian President Evo Morales came to an agreement for Costa Rica to share technical experience with the South American country in the area of geothermic, wind and other forms of renewable energy sources during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States meeting in San José on Jan. 29.

The new policy announcement comes a month before President Solís is set to travel to Paris to meet with members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an elite club of developed nations to which Costa Rica has been pursuing membership.

“This will strengthen Costa Rica’s bilateral, multilateral and regional relationships to position us in a place of equal footing, recognition and mutual respect between participants,” Sánchez said.