Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu begins his Costa Rica visit

San Jose (Costa Rica): Starting his second leg of the two-nation tour in Latin America, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica on Thursday. Naidu is the first leader from India holding a constitutional post to visit Costa Rica. He was received by Lorena Aguilar, acting minister of foreign affairs, Rodolfo Piza, minister of the presidency, and Ravi Thapar, ambassador of India to the Panama City.

Addressing the India-Costa Rica Business Forum, Naidu said both countries can be significant partners, both from the political and commercial point of view.

"India and Costa Rica share close business ties. Many Indian IT companies are present here and there are others which have strong business ties with Costa Rica. However there is scope for intensifying such ties for mutual benefit. There is a lot of untapped potential and scope for our economic engagement to grow. Both countries can work on critical and innovative technologies of mutual interest such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, digital sciences and telecommunications, agriculture and renewable energy, food processing, space research and climate change. There is also excellent potential for setting up joint projects in the dairy farming industry" Vice-President Naidu said.

Costa Rica is the 13th leading trading partner of India in the Latin American region. India-Costa Rica Bilateral trade in 2017- 18 was US$ 201 million.

Naidu urged the Costa Rican authorities to ease current visa policies and restrictions to allow Indian scientists, engineers and technology experts, academics, doctors, and other professionals to regularly visit Costa Rica and share knowledge and expertise.

Dyala Jimenez, minister of foreign trade of Costa Rica, thanked Naidu for the visit. She pointed towards the huge potential for mutual cooperation between India and Costa Rica.

Naidu will be meeting the President of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado Quesada Friday for high-level delegation talks. Naidu will be awarded the honorary doctorate by the University for Peace. He will deliver a lecture on the topic "Confronting the several challenges to World Peace". Later he would interact with Carolina Hidalgo Herrera, president of the Congress of the Republic of Costa Rica and address the Indian community.