The South Korean government reached an agreement in a meeting with President Pacheco at the President’s House in Zapote. President Roh Moo-hyun was impressed by Costa Rica’s natural beauty, ” I was shocked by the blue of the sky and the mountains”, he told reporters before heading to New York.

The agreement was outlined between Costa Rica’s INBIO (National Institute of Biodiversity) and South Korea’s KRIBB (Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology), and is for the establishment of Korea-Costa Rica Biodiversity Research Center.

The $6 million pledge will be destined to building the center, intended to include equipment, buildings, exchange of scientists and education. S. Korea considered several organizations in Latin America for the project, and INBIO came out as the best partner.

RECOPE is warning the country to brace for even higher gas prices at the pump, as prices reach $70 per barrel because of Katrina and other factors. In June the institution projected that Costa Rica would spend $ 954 million in 2005, but the price of a barrel of oil was $60. In 2004 the country spent $ 699 million dollars on oil, but through August the country has spent $ 655 million on 11,320,459 barrels.