The Embassy of Costa Rica in Berlin

Amb. Eugenia Maria Gutierrez Ruiz

Ambassador Ruiz is professionally a lawyer with a law degree from the university of Costa Rica from 2004 and a Master’s degree in European Studies and Integration from the State Distance University. She speaks Spanish, English, French, Italian and German.

She is an expert in human rights, international humanitarian law and humanitarian issues with extensive knowledge in migration and refugees. She has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office in Geneva, and in the Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship.

Costa Rican-German bilateral relations are untroubled. They are focused primarily on trade and economic exchange, long-standing development collaboration, and cooperation on environmental issues and climate protection. Germany enjoys a positive image in Costa Rica, thanks in part to the country’s well-assimilated German community.

Germany is one of Costa Rica’s principal trading partners in the European Union, and Costa Rica is a popular holiday destination for Germans (around 70,000 German tourists visited the country in 2015).

On an education level the Costa Rican-German bilateral relations are also good. The German Academic Exchange Service’s (DAAD) has a regional office in San José, which runs an Information Centre that conducts bilateral and regional programmes to promote the exchange of lecturers and students. There are special bilateral agreements on academic and student exchanges with Costa Rican institutions. There are also two Goethe Centers in San José.