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The presidents of Costa Rica and China have announced that they will be initiating the free trade treaty among both countries in November 2008.  The president of the People’s Republic of China, Hu Jintao, will be visiting Costa Rica November 16th to November 17th.

Jintao will be meeting with Costa Rican president Oscar Arias in order to start the negotiations for a free trade market among both countries.  China is currently Costa Rica’s second largest export destination according to Foreign Trade Minister, Marco Vinicio Ruiz.

According to Ruiz, the first round of negotiations will take place during the first trimester of 2009.  Ruiz also mentioned that authorities have just finished evaluating different productivity sectors and believe that the country has a positive environment to seek the commercial treaty with China.

Both Costa Rica and China have elaborated a feasibility study that took around eight months to complete.  The study that showed that exports could increase in 11% while imports could increase in 4%.  These results were made public last August and were submitted to key industry sectors for its review.

Although there is a good environment for this treaty, the majority of the industry leaders prefer to wait until CAFTA enters into action and the negotiations with Europe have been completed.