Gabriela Castro is an expert in international trade and investment policy, with vast experience in investment promotion and facilitation, international trade agreement negotiation and implementation, and government relations, as well as a deep understanding of issues relating to business climate and competitiveness.

Castro has been the director of the FDI Policy Division at Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX) since 2014, and has held other principal leadership positions within the institution since 2006. These positions include the chief of staff to the Minister (2010–2014), which involved functions such as directing strategic projects and acting as chief liaison officer to major public and private organizations working on international trade and investment issues, including government and congressional offices, chambers and other industry associations, embassies, non-governmental organizations, and educational institutions, among others. She was also the director general of foreign trade (2006–2010), involving functions such as acting as lead negotiator in several trade and investment agreements subscribed by the country during that period, and serving as principal trade policy advisor to the minister.

She has been elected officer of the OECD Investment Committee Bureau (2022), was an attorney at law and a public notary. She graduated from the University of La Salle-San José, Costa Rica (2000). She obtained a master’s degree in international markets and trade from Lead University-San José, Costa Rica (2017). She received a certificate of diplomacy on trade policy and law from Carleton University-Ottawa, Canada (2002), and advanced master’s degree studies in business and tax law at the University of International Cooperation-San José, Costa Rica.

Castro is also an amateur tennist, former mountain biker, enthusiastic cook, and experienced diver (@Padi Certified-Advanced + Nitrox). She is enamored by nature and happily married to her husband of more than 11 years, Julio. They are parents to two seven-year-old dogs (boxers).