President Oscar Arias will head to the United States not once but twice next week to promote investment in Costa Rica and peace in the world.
On Sept. 13, his birthday, Arias will inaugurate the Americas Conference in Miami, Florida, a business and political forum sponsored by The Miami Herald.
He’ll then return to Costa Rica for celebrations of Costa Rica’s 185th anniversary of independence Sept. 14-15, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.
Back in the United States the next day, Arias will be the guest of honor at Peace Jam in Denver, Colorado. The nonprofit PeaceJam Foundation brings together young people and Nobel Peace Prize-winners to discuss issues such as violence and tolerance. This year’s conference, which marks the foundation’s 10th anniversary, will include 3,000 young people from around the world and Nobel laureates including Arias, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, according to www.peacejam.org.
From Sept. 18-21, Arias will participate in the U.N. General Assembly in New York, meeting with various presidents and foreign ministers and with Secretary General Kofi Annan. Arias is scheduled to speak before the assembly Sept. 19, touching on themes including disarmament and the growing breach between industrialized and developing nations.
President Arias, Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruíz, and representatives of multinational companies with branches in Costa Rica, such as Hewlett Packard, will also meet with business executives regarding investment opportunities in Costa Rica, the statement said.