Historic visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia to Costa Rica

10. Aug 2022.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selaković stated that the celebration of 140 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Costa Rica was an excellent opportunity for the first, historic visit of a Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia to San Jose.

Minister Selaković expressed his pleasure for the fact that during his visit he met with several prominent officials of this Central American republic. In addition to meeting the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religion of Costa Rica, Arnold Tinoko, Selaković had separate meetings with the Minister of Foreign Trade, the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, as well as the Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that the visit to Costa Rica and the central meeting with the Costa Rican counterpart was an opportunity to sign certain memoranda and agreements between our two countries after more than 46 years.

Selaković and Tinoko signed the Joint Declaration on the proclamation of the new date of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Costa Rica, agreeing on 27 October 1882 as the date when the bilateral relations between the two countries started, as well as two memoranda of understanding between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs – on the establishment of a political consultation mechanism and on the cooperation of diplomatic academies.

Moreover, Minister Selaković and sectoral Costa Rican officials signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the sector of agriculture and a Memorandum of Understanding in the sector of sports.

Selaković pointed out that Costa Rica is slightly smaller in area than central Serbia and that, with a population of 5.2 million, it has an annual GDP of over 100 billion dollars. He especially noted that in the areas of agriculture, environmental protection and modern technologies, we can achieve an extensive exchange of experiences.

“Bearing in mind that this was the first visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, and that in the last 20 years we have had two visits by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica to Serbia, we were assured that we will have the opportunity to host Minister Tinoko in Belgrade as soon as possible, in order to continue our newly established political dialogue, as well as to seek all the possibilities for establishing stronger economic ties between Serbia and Costa Rica,” said Minister Selaković.

The head of Serbian diplomacy reminded that Costa Rica was among the first in the world to recognise the so-called independence of our southern province, however, he pointed out that this was the first opportunity to discuss the issue of Kosovo and Metohija in their capital.

“This was an opportunity to discuss the differences in our views on that issue, as well as to point out Belgrade’s commitment to seeking a peaceful, compromising, mutually acceptable and sustainable solution to the issue of our southern province of Kosovo and Metohija,” emphasised Selaković.