COSTA RICAN PRESIDENT LAUDS BILATERAL TIES WITH CHINA

San Jose, August 13 (Xinhua)- Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla Miranda, who is due to start her first state visit to China today, has spoken highly of bilateral relations between the two countries, saying they are an example of mutual respect.

Big strides have been made in the development of bilateral ties since the two sides established diplomatic ties in June 2007, Chinchilla said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua earlier this week.

"I am very excited to visit a country where I have never been before, a country that established diplomatic ties with Costa Rica only five years ago, but in that short time we have succeeded in getting much closer and sharing many things in common," Chinchilla said.

The trip aims to reaffirm Costa Rica's friendship with China, strengthen political ties between the two governments, and seek "mutual opportunities" in trade, investment and cooperation, she said.

"Costa Rica is very interested in attracting investment in areas where we already know China has shown an interest in Latin America, such as infrastructure and alliances with state-owned energy companies," said Chinchilla.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica wants to show potential Chinese investors its intention to establish a duty-free zone to attract some industrial enterprises from China, she said.

"Costa Rica is also very interested in exploring business opportunities there," said Chinchilla, stressing that her country values its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China.

China and Costa Rica signed their bilateral FTA in April 2010, which entered into force on Aug. 1, 2011. It has enabled a majority of Costa Rican products to enter the Chinese market free of duty.

"Costa Rica has been negotiating free trade agreements with the world's largest economies; we already have an accord with the United States, we also already have an Association Agreement with the European Union, but the panorama would not be complete without an FTA with China, an enormous market that is expanding," she said.

Chinchilla said various Costa Rican producers could take advantage of the growing demand of the Chinese market, especially producers of foodstuff and raw materials.

Costa Rica has tried to position itself as an attractive destination for foreign investment, which has grown considerably since she took office in 2010.

"I would say Costa Rica has excellent conditions for attracting investment, though we have some national challenges in the area of providing the human resource that these investments need, of further strengthening legal guarantees, and of providing the logistics and infrastructure that is needed," she said.

"What we were missing was a more aggressive approach toward the Chinese market, and that is why we believe that my presence there is going to be important," said Chinchilla, adding "a great portion of our agenda is going to be dedicated to meetings with the business World”.

Today, China's presence in Costa Rica is evident in joint investment and cooperation projects, such as construction of a new oil refinery and a national sports stadium, she said.

China is Costa Rica's second largest trade partner, with bilateral trade volume totalling 4.72 billion U.S. dollars in 2011.

Chinchilla also said Costa Rica was laying the groundwork to receive more Chinese tourists, including efforts to facilitate its visa granting process and tourism promotion activities.

"We hope our friendship continues to grow," Chinchilla said, expressing the hope that Costa Rica-China ties would go beyond the governments and business sectors to encompass both peoples.

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