In a meeting in San José yesterday, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega agreed to work toward an elusive consensus on immigration, debt relief and the border region – long thorny issues for the two countries.
Arias said Costa Rica could forgive “an important part” of Nicaragua's $630 million debt, while the Presidents will seek help from developed countries in paying the rest.
Arias and Ortega also agreed to meet in Nicaragua in January to discuss tourism and the environment, among other issues. Despite previous appeals from Ortega, Arias said he would not drop a case over navigation rights to the San Juan River, now under consideration in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Arias greeted Ortega yesterday morning at the Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela, west of San José, after the Nicaraguan President arrived more than two hours behind schedule.
The Presidents then met at the Foreign Ministry in downtown San José, accompanied by Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo, and the ambassadors and foreign ministers of both countries. Arias and Ortega signed a list of general accords at a press conference yesterday afternoon.
Among them was a pledge to work on improving conditions for Nicaraguan immigrants here. Both Presidents said they support a bill, now in the Legislative Assembly, that would allow foreigners to apply for residency from Costa Rica, instead of from their home country. Ortega added that a group of Nicaraguan politicians would visit Costa Rica to speak to legislators here about immigration issues.
Personal and ideological tensions go back more than 20 years for Arias and Ortega, who were Presidents of their respective countries in the late 1980s. |
| 
| Exchange Rates
