Costa Rica
Costa Rica has a dual role in development co-operation, as both a provider and a beneficiary. Costa Rica provides development co-operation as technical cooperation through bilateral and regional initiatives considered triangular and South-South co-operation. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Costa Rica has supported international initiatives, such as COVAX on global access to vaccines and the Fund to Alleviate COVID-19 Economics. Costa Rica has also provided technical co-operation in the form of the exchange of experience, supplies and national procedures to Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and El Salvador.
Costa Rica’s development co-operation is focused on providing technical assistance through South-South and triangular co-operation. The Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (Mideplan) is the institution in charge of implementing Costa Rica’s international co-operation based on the objectives noted in the 2023-2026 National Plan for Development (PNDIP), which focus on poverty, inequality and the environment. Article 10 of Decree No. 37735 establishes the PNDIP as the framework to define objectives, policies, goals, programmes and strategies that Mideplan co-ordinates in collaboration with other institutions in the National Planning System. The 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also provide a framework for implementing the PNDIP.
Costa Rica regularly participates in the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Senior-Level and High Level Meetings, and participated in the LAC-DAC Dialogue on Development Co-operation in 2021. Costa Rica has been part of the International Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) Task Force since its inception in 2017. In addition, in 2018, Mideplan and the OECD conducted a pilot study of TOSSD in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica’s International Co-operation Policy stresses the importance of solidarity and new co-operation modalities. The policy states that “concerning the recent tendencies in international co-operation, Costa Rica has developed capacities in areas such as health, education, sustainable development and environmental protection. Among others, these constitute a co-operation offer with which Costa Rica aims to position itself internationally as a country that stands in solidarity with others and promotes new co-operation modalities.”
Source: Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (2020).
Costa Rica is a member of the TOSSD Task Force. As a provider of South-South co-operation, Costa Rica started reporting on TOSSD for the first time in 2020 on 2019 activities.
In 2021, Costa Rica provided USD 249 200 in support to sustainable development. All this support constituted cross-border resources to TOSSD recipients (TOSSD Pillar I) in the form of technical co-operation in triangular and South-South co-operation. In 2019-20, Costa Rica also reported on its support to regional and global expenditures supporting sustainable development.
This figure does not include assessed contributions to the multilateral system since the country does not include such contributions in its TOSSD reporting.
Contributions to individual Sustainable Development Goals
In 2021, Costa Rica’s support to sustainable development mainly contributed to progress on the SDGs for health and well-being (SDG 3), partnerships (SDG 17), zero hunger (SDG 2), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), and climate action (SDG 13).
Sectoral distribution
In 2021, the largest share of Costa Rica’s cross-border resources to partner countries targeted social infrastructure and services (USD 111 800) and economic infrastructure (USD 105 400), representing 45% and 42% of total cross-border resource flows to TOSSD recipients.
As regards social sectors, Costa Rica’s resources to TOSSD recipients were mostly distributed across health and population and education, while transport and storage was the foremost economic sector of Costa Rica’s TOSSD.
With its dual role in development co-operation, Costa Rica engages in triangular co-operation. Its reporting to TOSSD shows its regional priority is Latin America; its main partner countries are Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Germany and Spain; and the main sectors of its triangular co-operation are government and civil society and agriculture, forestry and fishing. More information on Costa Rica’s number of triangular co-operation projects can be found in the OECD’s voluntary triangular co-operation project repository. Costa Rica is a member of the Global Partnership Initiative on Effective Triangular Co-operation.
Costa Rica partners with Spain in a triangular co-operation fund to support Costa Rica in its triangular co-operation projects with other Central American and Caribbean countries (e.g.El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras). Areas of co-operation include sustainable development, social cohesion, competitiveness and production, and participative democracy. Costa Rica also participates in projects of the German Regional Fund for Triangular Co-operation in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is interested in developing decentralised co-operation initiatives in line with the SDGs.
The Directorate General for International Co-operation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Co-operation Area of Mideplan manage Costa Rica’s incoming and outgoing development co-operation. Mideplan is responsible for formulating, negotiating, co-ordinating, approving and evaluating technical assistance programmes in line with the National Development Plan. Mideplan forwards requests for technical assistance to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which assesses whether such requests are consistent with Costa Rica’s foreign policy and presents them to the relevant governments and international bodies.1 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs represents Costa Rica in international co-operation, having exclusive competence in diplomatic negotiations and formalising development co-operation agreements. Mideplan is responsible for the internal leadership in matters of international co-operation, having exclusive competence for the management and technical negotiation of this with national entities, agencies and institutions, so that it is consistent with the National Development Plan. Ministries and public sector institutions use an international co-operation liaison system (the National Co-operation Subsystem) to contact Mideplan when implementing an international co-operation project.2
Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (2020), Costa Rican International Co-operation Policies 2020-2022, Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy, San José, https://documentos.mideplan.go.cr/share/s/eAVw_dAZR32hT9pEmxtkfA.
Government of Costa Rica (2018), International Co-operation Projects Management System, Ministry of Planning and Economic Policy, San José.
Costa Rica has been a member of the OECD since 2021. It is a member of the International TOSSD Task Force. Reporting to TOSSD since 2020, on 2019 data. It conducted a TOSSD pilot study in 2018.3