Costa Rica, Lebanon
Re-Establish Diplomatic
Ties
Costa Rica and Lebanon
re-established
diplomatic ties on
Friday after a 23-year
freeze, said Costa
Rica's Foreign Affairs
Ministry.
The formal relations
were re-established
during a ceremony held
in New York by Costa
Rica and Lebanon's
permanent
representatives to the
United Nations, Jorge
Urbina Ortega and Nawaf
Salam, said a press
communique.
Urbina said the decision
expresses both sides'
willingness to promote
mutual cooperation and
understanding as well as
their wish to develop
friendship and
cooperative ties based
on the constitutional
principles of the UN and
according to the Vienna
Convention on diplomatic
relations.
The normalization of
relations with Lebanon
"will increase political
and diplomatic
rapprochement with the
Arab and Islamic world
in general and will open
trade opportunities with
those markets," Costa
Rica's Foreign Minister
Bruno Stagno said.
Besides Lebanon, Costa
Rica's government has
re-established
diplomatic ties with
Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait,
Bahrain and Yemen as
part of the gradual
normalization of its
relations with Arab
countries, Stagno said.
Lebanon and Costa Rica's
diplomatic relations
were interrupted after
the 1984 Islamic League
Conference called on
Arab States to
reconsider its ties with
the Central American
country since it
maintained its embassy
in Israel in Jerusalem
city.
Costa Rican President
Oscar Arias announced on
Aug. 16, 2006 the
transfer of this
diplomatic embassy from
Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
"It is time, then, to
rectify a historic error
at international level,
which deprives us of
almost any kind of
friendship with the Arab
world and the Islamic
civilization," said
Arias.
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