While this week's Latin American summit marks Oscar Arias' last meeting with heads of state as Costa Rican president, it will be the first for his replacement, President-elect Laura Chinchilla.

The pair traveled together to the Unity Summit for Latin American and Caribbean Nations (CALC) on Sunday afternoon, arriving in Mexico's Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, in time for the inaugural dinner.

Chinchilla said she hoped to take advantage of the opportunity to maintain the same quality of diplomatic relations as her predecessor, whose presidency was characterized by a strong emphasis on international affairs.

Often criticized for allocating too much attention to the international front at the expense of domestic affairs, Arias could not say whether Chinchilla, his former vice president, would follow in his footsteps in that regard.

Outside his home on Friday night, he told reporters, “I don't know. I haven't spoken with her about the emphasis she wants to put on foreign relations.”

Speaking about his last regional summit as president, Arias said he regrets it will not include Honduras.

“It's very difficult to aspire to greater unity within the Latin American community if (the summit) excludes a country that recently elected – in a clean, transparent and democratic election – a president like Porfirio Lobo,” he said.

Honduran President Lobo's legitimacy continues to be questioned throughout much of Latin America because he was elected to replace a president who had been forcibly – and in many eyes, wrongly – deposed. And even Arias, who acted as mediator during the conflict that lasted for the better part of 2009, did not attend Lobo's inauguration ceremony last month.

However, on Friday Arias said, “I think that the logical thing to do is to turn the page and analyze the possibilities of diplomatically recognizing a new government as soon as possible.

“The only other choice is to continue to punish the Honduran people and they do not deserve more punishment.”