Selaković: Intensify political dialogue and cooperation with Costa Rica

Minister Selaković expressed his pleasure that the year when the 140th anniversary of the bilateral relations between the two countries was commemorated also saw the historic first visit of a Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs to Costa Rica. He stated that Serbia was interested in improving cooperation and renewing political dialogue with Costa Rica, and emphasised that it was necessary to intensify contacts and meetings between officials of the two countries.

He also highlighted the fact that the presence of the Special Representative to the President of Serbia at the recent inauguration ceremony of the new President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Chaves Robles showed Serbia’s readiness to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Costa Rica, and expressed his hope that the important anniversary commemorated by the two countries this year, 140 years since the establishment of their diplomatic relations, would be an opportunity for Minister Tinoco to visit Belgrade by the end of the year.

Minister Selaković also talked about possibilities for strengthening economic cooperation, particularly in the field of agriculture, as well as in the field of sports, culture and education, expressing his pleasure that he would have meetings and concrete conversations with three Ministers of Costa Rica during the visit.

The two Ministers discussed the most important international and regional matters. Minister Selaković informed Minister Tinoco on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and emphasised that this was a matter of utmost importance for Serbia.

Minister Selaković conveyed that Serbia was very committed to preserving peace and stability in the region and resolving outstanding issues through dialogue, as well as to intensifying the cooperation in the region as much as possible. He informed Minister Tinoco about the regional Open Balkan initiative and the progress of Serbia’s European integration.

After today’s meeting, Minister Selaković and Minister Tinoco signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the mechanism for political consultation between the two Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and the Manuel María Peralta Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, as well as the Joint declaration on announcing a new date of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Costa Rica, which established 27 October 1882 as the date of the beginning of bilateral relations between the two countries. Minister Selaković also signed the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of agriculture and Memorandum of Understanding in the field of sport with his counterparts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica.