Oscar Arias Sanchez, born in Heredia in 1940 is the current President of Costa Rica. It is the second term of this visionary president of Costa Rica, who has won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. After completing his academic career in law and economics, the President of Costa Rica got his PHD in political science in 1974. Arias a member of Costa Rica’s National Liberation Party (PLN), acting as Minister of National Planning and Political Economy in the cabinet of President Figueres, became president himself for the first time in 1986. During his first term he successfully transformed Costa Rica to a country no longer dependent on its traditional export products as coffee, banana and pineapple, but more relying on the more profitable tourist sector. By doing so the President of Costa Rica has not only turned around the economy, but has safeguarded the overwhelmingly rich natural environment of Costa Rica, for which the country is now famous all over the world. In the mid eighties President Arias successfully intermediated in the raging conflict between the Contra and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Costa Rica was involuntarily involved in this conflict because the US-supported Contra operated from Costa Rican soil. In May 1987 President Arias initiated a meeting between the presidents of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua to come to a peaceful solution of the conflict that was a threat to the entire Central American region. Some 10 months later in 1987 the five presidents agreed to a treaty. President Arias was awarded the Nobel Piece Prize as recognition for his contribution to solve the conflict. The Costa Rican Constitution would not allow a president to run be reelected for a second term. When this condition was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 2004, the road for a second term as President of Costa Rica lay wide open for Arias. Maintaining a prominent roll in Costa Rican politics Arias was sworn in as president of Costa Rica for the second time on May 8th 2006. It took a recount of all the votes, which held Costa Ricans on edge for over a month, to determine that President Arias beat his opponent Otton Solis by a mere 18,000 votes. During the first year of his second term President Arias has focused on reorganizing several bureaucratic governmental organizations. As a leading advocate of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States of America, he leads a divided electorate to a national referendum to decide on this matter. On the international political stage President Arias cut the long lasting diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of the economic more powerful People’s Republic of China.