“In the past few yeas， economic and trade ties between China and Costa Rica have gone from strength to strength， and the two sides should work to enhance the complimentarity of the bilateral trade，” said Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla in Beijing on August 15， during her first official visit after her inauguration.

She made the remarks at the China Costa Rica Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum held by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Foreign Trade Corporation of Costa Rica. It was attended by Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Trade， Minister of Tourism， and other senior officials， as well as 270 people from companies of the two countries.

Trade and investment between China and Costa Rica has made phenomenal progress since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 2007， especially since the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement on August 1， 2011.

The two sides have carried out extensive cooperation in such fields as scientific research， education， culture， and tourism， and expect to have stronger partnership in logistics， energy， agriculture， tourism and other areas.

President Chinchilla hoped to export more products from Costa Rica and Central America to China within the framework of free trade. She also wanted to attract more investment from China.

Strong growth

“Trade between the two nations saw an increase of 40% in the past two years， making China the second larg- est trading partner of Costa Rica，” said Wan Jifei， President of the CCPIT. “The two sides have carried out extensive cooperation in scientific research， education， culture， tourism and many other fields.”

Chinese trade with Latin America is overwhelmingly dominated by China’s huge purchases of food and industrial raw materials.

But it is not the case for Costa Rica， one of the few countries with a trade surplus with China. Of last year’s $4.7bn trade between the two countries， $3.8bn were exports from Costa Rica， of which three quarters were electronic components and computer chips， most produced by Intel， according to statistics of the Customs of China.

“At present， the product categories of Costa Rica’s exports to China are still relatively unitary. In the next five years， we hope to diversify the bilateral trade and to increase exports of Costa Rican coffee， juice， beef， pork and other products to China in particular，” said Marco Vinicio Ruiz， Costa Rican ambassador to China.

China’s $884 million exports were mainly of electronic devices， transportation vehicles， machinery， textile and plastics.

The countries signed their bilateral agreement in April 2010， with it coming into force on Aug. 1， 2011. It has enabled a majority of Costa Rican products to enter the Chinese market， free of duty.

Foreign investment in Costa Rica reported an average increase rate of 17% in the past ten year. However， Chinese investment in the country is still in the initial stage， mainly in the telecommunications sector.

Costa Rica has noted that foreign investment plays an important role in China’s 12th Five-Year Plan. It hopes to become a platform and strategic partner for Chinese companies and investments to expand in the whole Latin America.

Opportunities ahead

President Chinchilla said its country enjoys a good geological location， and has abundant high-level human resources. Besides， it has signed free trade accords with most of the economies in the world， making the country a good step stone for foreign products to enter the Central American market.

China and Costa Rica cooperation in trade and investment has broad prospects， said Chinchilla. She called for deeper cooperation in fields such as logistics， energy， agriculture and tourism.

In the next few years， Costa Rica will make largescale renovation of roads， ports， airports and other infrastructure， in a bid to improve its public transportation and reduce pollutants emission， according to Anabel Gonzalez， Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica. This means a lot of opportunities for Chinese companies.

Besides， there is much room for cooperation between the two nations in clean energy and telecommunications， said Gonzalez. A small country as it is， Costa Rica is a world leader in terms of the utilization of recyclable energy. 92% of the nation’s energy comes from recyclable sources， mostly from water resources.

“China has got good experience in solar energy development， and we hope to work with China in that regard and sell China’s photovoltaic panels to other central American markets，” said Gonzalez.

It was reported that President Chinchilla checked out the potential for building a major industrial park in her country to act as a manufacturing and logistics platform for Chinese companies.

A day before the forum， Chinchilla viewed the facilities of the Suzhou industrial park， built eight years ago. The park houses some 20，000 companies， about a quarter of them foreign. And the Suzhou park forms a complete city of about 750，000 inhabitants packed with educational， recreational and entertainment facilities.

“This could be a model for Costa Rica， in a much smaller scale of course，” mused Enrique Castillo， the foreign minister who accompanied Chinchilla. The Costa Rican version could be located well outside of the capital San José， Castillo suggested.

Costa Rica is going to sign a memorandum on civil aviation cooperation with China， in order to attract more Chinese tourists， Allan Flores， Costa Rica’s Tourism Minister said at the forum.

“Now about 8，000 tourists visit Costa Rica every year. Costa Rica’s tourism industry grew by 4.6% last year， hitting a record high of 2.1 million foreign tourists， which is of great significance for a country with a population of only 4.3 million people，” said Flores. Costa Rica makes a good place for family travel， eco-tourism， sun and beach tourism， country， medical and conference tourism.