Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel A. González Sanz met today, April 20, 2017, with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the sidelines of the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of the Central American Integration System (SICA) in Istanbul, Turkey.

At the meeting, the Turkish chancellor offered his support for the reconstruction of damages caused by Hurricane Otto in Costa Rica late last year. Similarly, Minister Cavusoglu learned about the human impacts caused by this natural disaster, and both leaders agreed to follow up on the issue to identify areas for cooperation.

The Ministers also expressed their commitment to jointly promote educational and cultural exchanges as part of a cultural cooperation agreement signed today during their meeting.

In addition to the cultural cooperation agreement, Costa Rica and Turkey also signed an agreement to jointly combat illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs.

As far as commerce, the ministers expressed interest in increasing and diversifying the trade flow between their countries. The Turkish chancellor reiterated an interest in negotiating a free trade agreement between the two countries.

In order to improve trade relations and tourism, the ministers agreed to promote common management to facilitate air connectivity between their nations. Turkish Airlines has one of the largest, most modern aircraft fleets.

They agreed to follow up this first meeting with another one later this year to continue discussing relations between the two countries, said the ministry’s press office.

Turkey is seen as a strategic ally, and a potentially lucrative market for direct foreign investment in Costa Rica and increased exports to Turkey.