Chinese president arrives in Costa Rica

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Costa Rica today on a state visit aims at promoting cooperation between China and the Central American country. The Chinese President is scheduled to meet his Costa Rican counterpart Laura Chinchilla on the development of bilateral ties, Chinese news agency (Xinhua) reported. Since China and Costa Rica established diplomatic ties in 2007, fruitful achievements have been made in their cooperation in various fields. Last August, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla paid a state visit to China, which injected a new impetus to the comprehensive development of bilateral relations. Xi, who flew into San Jose from Port of Spain after his state visit to Trinidad and Tobago, is currently on his first trip to Latin America after becoming the president in March. He will also visit Mexico. China and Latin America have expanded pragmatic cooperation in recent years, delivering tangible benefits to both peoples. With two-way trade reaching 261.2 billion US dollars in 2012, China has become the second largest trading partner of Latin America and the Caribbean, which witnessed the world's fastest growth of exports to China. By investing nearly 65 billion US dollars in Latin America and the Caribbean in accumulative terms, China has helped create much-needed jobs in the region. After his Latin American trip, Xi will travel to US state of California for a summit meeting with his US counterpart Barack Obama. The China-US summit will be the first of its kind since both nations completed their most recent leadership transitions. Xi and Obama are expected to exchange views on domestic and foreign policies, as well as issues of pivotal importance and regional and international issues of common concern, Chinese officials said.