New ambassadors from Canada, EU, UK arrive in Costa Rica

New ambassadors from Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom presented their credentials to President Luis Guillermo Solís during a ceremony Thursday.

Solís and acting Foreign Minister Eduardo Trejos welcomed Canadian Ambassador Michael Gort, British Ambassador Ross Patrick Denny and European Union Ambassador Pelayo Castro Zuzuárregui at the Foreign Ministry. The three diplomats represent countries that invested more than $489 million collectively in Costa Rica last year, according to figures from the Foreign Trade Ministry.

Ambassador Gort previously worked in Ghana and volunteered in Guatemala in 1995. Before accepting the post as ambassador, he served as Canada’s permanent representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. Gort has worked in the Canadian civil service since 2003 with an emphasis in development. Based in Costa Rica, Gort will also represent Canada in Honduras and Nicaragua. He replaced former Canadian Ambassador Wendy Drukier.

Ambassador Denny is also the nonresident British ambassador to Nicaragua. He started his foreign service career in 1979 and has held three posts in Latin America, most recently as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Bolivia. In Costa Rica, Denny is replacing outgoing Ambassadors Sharon and Christopher Campbell.

“I look forward to working closely with the government of Costa Rica to build ever stronger relations across the range of our many shared interests, and to leading the work of the Embassy,” Denny said in a statement.

EU Ambassador Pelayo Castro Zuzuárregui previously worked as an advisor to the European Commission’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as vice president of the European Commission in Brussels and as the principal liaison between the EU and the European Parliament and national parliaments.