Dr. Oscar Arias Sánchez was President of Costa Rica from 1986-1990 and 1987 Nobel Peace Laureate. He is now a renowned international spokesperson for Third World countries. He travels the world spreading a message of peace and applying the lessons learned from the Central American Peace Process.

Dr. Arias uses his experiences to focus on such issues as human development, democracy and demilitarisation. His positions on Central American issues have become the standards by which many people in the US Congress and elsewhere have come to judge United States policy-making.

Dr. Arias was born in Heredia, Costa Rica in 1940, he studied Law and Economics at the University of Costa Rica and he received a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Essex, United Kingdom in 1974. After serving as Professor of Political Science at the University of Costa Rica, he was appointed Minister of Planning and Economic Policy. He was elected to Congress in 1978 and Secretary-General of the National Liberation party in 1981 before finally being elected President in 1986.

In 1987, President Arias drafted a peace plan to end the regional crisis. Widely recognised as the Arias Peace Plan, his initiative culminated in the signing of the Esquipulas II Accords by all the Central American presidents on August 7 1987. This remarkable achievement was recognised internationally and in that same year President Arias received the Nobel Peace Prize. He used the monetary award from the Nobel Peace Prize to establish the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress in 1988.

Dr. Arias has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates from universities around the world as well as a number of prestigious international awards for his role in the Central American peace process. A highly experienced and motivated speaker, Dr. Arias is now in high demand at conferences throughout the globe.