MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)

Good afternoon. We’re live from the Presidential Palace of the Republic of Costa Rica. The meeting of Her Excellency Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations, and Mr. Rodrigo Chaves Robles, President of the Republic of Costa Rica, alongside their delegations has concluded.

(In Spanish.)

We will now listen to the appreciations regarding the meeting. We will begin with the words of Mr. Rodrigo Chaves Robles, President of the Republic of Costa Rica.

PRESIDENT CHAVES: (In Spanish.)

AMBASSADOR LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you so much, Mr. President, and good afternoon, everyone. It’s really great to be here at Casa Presidencial. President Chaves and I just had a productive meeting and reaffirmed the importance of the relationship between our two countries – a relationship that will help us advance our shared agenda on security, migration, and economic prosperity, and a relationship founded on democratic values. Those values are, of course, the focus of this week as we meet for the 2023 Summit for Democracy. I’m proud to lead the U.S. delegation to this important summit and I’m grateful for everything Costa Rica has done to help organize this week’s event.

Finally, I would note that during our meeting I thanked the president for his efforts to ensure all migrants are treated safely and humanely, and for his administration’s strong condemnation of the Ortega regime’s decision to strip more than 300 Nicaraguans of their citizenship.

Mr. President, thank you again. Thank you for your warm welcome. Thank you for welcoming my team to an amazing lunch. I look forward to our continued partnership as we work to strengthen democratic institutions and increase youth participation in democracy. Thank you.

MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)

From this moment on there will be a question-and-answer period for the press consisting of two questions. The first one is from the national media and the second one from the international media.

QUESTION: (In Spanish.)

AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Thank you so much for your question. And you know democracy is also about civil society organizations, and I will be meeting with civil society organizations across the board during my visit here. I met earlier today with an international group of young people who are working on youth issues, and I will meet with others in the course of today.

Original source can be found here.