The second round China-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation was successful held in Shanghai April 14-17. In-depth consultations were made on the initial offering of market access on trade in goods and services and FTA draft. Views also exchanged on rules of origin, customs procedures, technical barriers of trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, dispute settlement, transparency, trade remedies, intellectual property rights and cooperation.

China and Costa Rica established diplomatic relations in June, 2007. President Hu visited Costa Rica in November, 2008, and jointly announced during his visit with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias that China and Costa Rica would initiate FTA negotiations.

Since establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Costa Rica have conducted cooperation in trade and economy, and bilateral trade has been developing at high speed. Presently, Costa Rica is an important trading partner of China in Central America, and China is Costa Rica’s second largest trading partner. According to China Customs statistics, bilateral trade volume reached US $2.89 billion (USD) in 2008, which is 32 times that of 2001. Trade structures of China and Costa Rica are highly complementary to each other. There is a relatively large potential for the two countries to further enhance cooperation in economy and trade.