Russia and Costa Rica are engaged in talks on reaching an agreement to mutually recognize higher education diplomas and degrees, Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Russian Federation Alexey Kudachkin told Sputnik
SAN JOSE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2019) Russia and Costa Rica are engaged in talks on reaching an agreement to mutually recognize higher education diplomas and degrees, Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Russian Federation Alexey Kudachkin told Sputnik."A very important document that is currently under discussion is an agreement on the mutual recognition of higher education diplomas and degrees," Kudachkin said. "There are about 2,000 Costa Ricans who received their education in the Soviet Union or Russia and a certain number of young people go to Russia for education each year. So, an agreement to recognize diplomas is, of course, a very important issue that we will try to reach."
Kudachkin explained that Costa Rica has shown interest to reach such an agreement given its practical importance.
"This is one of our priority tasks for the near future," Kudachkin said.
Kudachkin noted that Russia provides Costa Rican citizens with 11 scholarships annually so they can study at various Russian universities.
"This year we have already filled the quota. There were many more people who wanted to participate. We are trying to have our departments increase the quota," Kudachkin said.
The Russian diplomat pointed out of the existence of other types of exchanges such as between the two countries' interior ministries.
"Representatives of Costa Rica's Interior Ministry travel to Russia each year to study in various programs. Just now, we issued visas to two Costa Rican police officers who will study at Russian universities via the Interior Ministry," Kudachkin said.
Kudachkin noted that there are a number of other draft agreements the two countries are jointly working on, including on extradition and customs.
"The task of updating our contractual legal framework with Costa Rica is on the agenda, because going back to the Soviet Union, the list of agreements that were concluded is quite big," Kudachkin said. "There are some 25 different agreements, including on cultural cooperation, sports cooperation, customs agreement, relations between the chambers of commerce, etc."
Kudachkin explained that the list of agreements is currently being analyzed to see whether they can be reintroduced without additional legal formalities or whether some agreements can be formalized in a different way so they can enter into force.
May 8 marked the 75th anniversary of the establishing of diplomatic relations between Russia and Costa Rica.
