After 23 years of silence, Costa Rica and Lebanon have rekindled their political ties.  The recent decision to join forces again came because both countries are trying to ¨promote the spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding and develop ties of friendship under the principles of the UN and in conformance with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations,¨ Jorge Urbina, the Costa Rican Ambassador to the UN said. 

This new union will help Costa Rica with better political and diplomatic relations with the Arabic and Islamic world and hopefully open the gates for trade in the future, Costa Rica is taking it one step at a time.

In 1984 ties were broken with Lebanon after the Islamic League Conference wanted all Arabic countries to reconsider their link to Costa Rica.  This was because Costa Rica chose to keep its Israeli Embassy in Jerusalem.  On August 16, 2006 Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said that he would move the Costa Rican embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.  Costa Rica and El Salvador were the last two embassies in Jerusalem.Â

In the past year, Costa Rica has instituted several new diplomatic ties with Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, and China.  Perhaps this is a new leaf that Costa Rica is trying to turn, opening up new trade markets with larger and more powerful countries. 

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Filed under: Costa Rica News on August 27th, 2007