Sáenz de Santamaría and Solís during the event./Photo: Informative Forums of EP
The Diplomat. 09/05/2017
The Spanish Government considers that Costa Rica’s stability makes of that country a singular example in Latin America. This is how the vice-president, Soraya Saénz de Santamaría, highlighted it at the start of the visit to Spain made by the Costa Rican President, Luis Guillermo Solís.
Solís was received yesterday by His Majesty the King, who offered a lunch with the Queen afterwards, at the Zarzuela Palace, which was also attended by the Costa Rican first lady, the Spanish Mercedes Peña. Furthermore, he went to the Moncloa Palace to meet the president of the Government, Mariano Rajoy.
In the morning, during a breakfast of the America Forum, organized by Europa Press, Saénz de Santamaría said about Solís that he “firmly defends the Ibero-American integration”, and affirmed that its social policies, the bet on education and health, and the reduction of poverty make of Costa Rica “a singular example” in Ibero-America and a “prosperous and stable” country. The vice-president used the occasion to emphasize that the Costa Rican president, just like the head of the Spanish Executive, Mariano Rajoy, are a “guarantee of stability, efficiency and progress” for their nations.
Solís met the King and Rajoy, and was appointed special ambassador of the UNWTO for Sustainable Tourism
Saénz de Santamaría pointed out that Spain bets on Costa Rica, remembering that, in the last decade, it has been the country’s second investor with an annual average of 250 million dollars that is close to 10% of the total of foreign investment. Today, the Costa Rican President is holding a meeting with Spanish businesspeople to expound the investment possibilities in that country in sectors such as infrastructures, especially road infrastructures marking the main exit route to the Pacific.
For his part, Luis Guillermo Solís, explained the policy developed by his Government in the last three years he has been holding the position and, among other things, he highlighted Costa Rica’s bet on clean energy and the development of sustainable tourism.
In relation to this point, he emphasized that, like in Spain, tourism is very important in Costa Rica, which, last year, received more than three million tourists. Yesterday, during an event celebrated at the World Tourism Organization, in Madrid, Solís was appointed special ambassador of the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development.
