1. The Republic of Korea government will send special envoys -- Chairman of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee Cho Jeong-sik and Representative Kim Seong-soo of the ruling Democratic Party -- to the inauguration ceremony of President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, which will take place on May 8.

2. Costa Rica is the ROK’s main friend in Latin America with such shared universal values as democracy, respect for human rights and peace. The two countries have been building close friendly ties in various sectors, including political affairs, economy and culture, as well as on the international stage since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1962.

° Since forging “comprehensive cooperative partnership” in 2016, the two countries have been seeing their mutually beneficial cooperative ties enhanced further and are expected to further step up bilateral substantive cooperation in diverse areas, including government procurement, information and communications technology (ICT), biodiversity and clean energy.

° The two countries are also forecast to further bolster economic and trade cooperation on the back of the ROK-Central America FTA concluded in February 2018.

※ The ROK-Central America FTA has been concluded between the ROK, and Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

3. The special envoys will hold a meeting with President Alvarado, during which the ROK side will relay to the Costa Rican President the hope of President Moon Jae-in and the ROK government that the two countries will overcome the geographical distance across the Pacific Ocean and enhance their cooperative ties in a closer and mutually complementary way.

* unofficial translation