This article traces the relationship between India and Costa Rica: how the Ministry of External Affairs describes it, the visits exchanged since 1996, cooperation in multilateral coalitions and on science and the environment, and India's first engagement with the Costa Rican government that took office in May 2026. It is based on the MEA bilateral brief of June 2026.

How the relationship has developed

According to the MEA brief of June 2026, India and Costa Rica enjoy cordial and warm relations, which the brief says are being strengthened by growing commercial engagement. Formal representation began with honorary consuls in 1995 and 1996, and Costa Rica opened an Embassy in New Delhi in 2010; the missions of both countries are described in the practical guide in this series.

The brief says bilateral relations have gained fresh momentum in recent years. The first-ever high-level visit from India to Costa Rica took place in March 2019, when the Vice-President of India visited San José; the areas of cooperation identified then, and India's development assistance, are set out in the trade and development article. Since then, engagement has broadened across multilateral, economic, scientific and cultural fields.

Visits from Costa Rica

  • February-March 1997: Foreign Minister Fernando Naranjo visited India, the first-ever visit by a Foreign Minister of Costa Rica to India.
  • February 2004: Vice Foreign Minister Marco Vinicio Vargas Pereira visited India as part of a SICA delegation.
  • June 2008: Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, with SICA Foreign Ministers, visited India for the 2nd India-SICA Foreign Ministers' meeting.
  • March 2015: Vice-Minister of Foreign Relations Mr. Alejandro Solano Ortiz visited for the second round of Foreign Office Consultations.
  • September 2019: Vice Foreign Minister Ms. Lorena Aguilar Revelo visited India for the 14th Conference of Parties of the UNCCD.
  • November 2024: Alternate Judge of the Supreme Court of Justice Ms. Rosa María Acón took part in the 25th International Conference of Chief Justices of the World in Lucknow.
  • September 2025: Costa Rica took part in the 5th India-SICA Political Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism, where Foreign Minister Mr. Arnoldo André reaffirmed Costa Rica's commitment to India-SICA cooperation.
  • February 2026: Minister of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications Ms. Paula Bogantes Zamora visited New Delhi for the India AI Impact Summit. She took part in a high-level panel with AI officials from the UAE, the United States and the Observer Research Foundation, and the brief reports that she praised India's leadership in AI for the Global South.

Visits concerned mainly with trade and culture are covered in the other articles of this guide.

Visits from India

  • February 1996: Secretary (West) Shri V. K. Grover visited San José for discussions on NAM and the UN.
  • August 2012: Secretary (West) Shri M. Ganapathi visited for Foreign Office Consultations.
  • July 2015: Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. (Dr.) V. K. Singh (Retd.) made his first official visit, meeting Foreign Minister Mr. Manuel González Sanz, Vice-President and Finance Minister Mr. Helio Fallas, and Foreign Trade Minister Mr. Alexander Mora. An MoU on Technical Cooperation was signed.
  • October-November 2017: National Human Rights Commission members Shri P. C. Ghose and Shri Ambuj Sharma attended the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions Bureau meeting.
  • March 2019: the Vice-President of India visited Costa Rica, accompanied by Minister of State for Tourism Shri K. J. Alphons and Member of Parliament Shri R. K. Kashyap.
  • October 2019: Shri C. K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, led a delegation to the Pre-COP 25 meeting in San José.
  • September 2021: Secretary (East) Ms. Riva Ganguly Das led the Indian delegation for Foreign Office Consultations and met Vice Minister of Bilateral Affairs and International Cooperation Ms. Adriana Bolaños Argueta.
  • April 2023: the External Affairs Minister took part in the India-SICA Foreign Ministers' meeting in Panama, in which Costa Rica's Minister of Information Technology also took part.
  • June 2024: Dr. M. Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, took part in the High-Level Event on Ocean Action in San José.
  • May 2026: Minister of State for External Affairs Shri Pabitra Margherita represented India at the inauguration of President Laura Fernández Delgado in San José.

Multilateral cooperation

In the multilateral field, Costa Rica signed the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement but, as of the brief, had not ratified it. In 2025, Costa Rica joined the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), endorsing its charter to become a member. The brief describes the CDRI as the second major coalition launched by India outside the United Nations.

The new Government of May 2026

Costa Rica held general elections on 1 February 2026. Ms. Laura Fernández Delgado of the Sovereign People's Party (Partido Pueblo Soberano) won the presidency in the first round, becoming the second woman elected President of Costa Rica, and her party secured a majority in the Legislative Assembly. She was sworn in as the 50th President of Costa Rica on 8 May 2026 at the National Stadium in San José, for the 2026-2030 term.

Shri Pabitra Margherita, Minister of State for External Affairs and Textiles, represented India and the Prime Minister at the inauguration and conveyed the greetings of the President, Prime Minister and people of India. The brief records this as the first high-level Indian engagement with the incoming administration. On the sidelines, he met Foreign Minister Mr. Manuel Tovar; both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to multilateralism, democracy and a rules-based international order and discussed deepening cooperation across the bilateral agenda.