Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian will be in Costa Rica on December 22 and 23.
The Minister will meet with Costa Rican authorities and will be hosted by Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada. He will also meet with his counterpart, Rodolfo Solano Quiros, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship. They will address the regional situation, especially in Haiti and Nicaragua.
Also discussed will be cooperation with the Alliance for Multilateralism and environmental challenges, especially goals to expand the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, which France and Costa Rica co-chair, and which aims to conserve 30% of the planet ? land and sea ? by 2030. They will also talk about preparations for the One Ocean Summit to be held in Brest on February 11. Mr. Le Drian will visit the Tropical Agriculture Center (CATIE) in Turrialba, which works with the French agricultural research and cooperation organization CIRAD on resilience in the face of climate change, and agricultural research and development benefiting rural populations.
The Minister will emphasize France's desire to strengthen our bilateral cooperation on education and research. In San Jose, Mr. Le Drian will meet with the rector of the University of Costa Rica, which is implementing a partnership with the Pasteur Institute on Covid-19 research, and will visit a vaccination center. He will also announce France's donation of 200,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine through Covax to assist Costa Rica in vaccinating migrants, and will reiterate France's support for the efforts of the High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) on behalf of migrants in Central America and Costa Rica.
Lastly, the Minister will address investment projects by French businesses.