Weekly Report - 18 June 2009 (WR-09-24)

COSTA RICA | China. The president of Costa Rica's chamber of industries (CICR), Juan Marí­a González, this week bemoaned the government's “unfortunate decision" to seek a free trade agreement with China. González said Costa Rica's international trade had always been based on confidence. “China is not a partner that inspires confidence, and Costa Rica is running a serious risk," González said a day after the third round of bilateral talks towards an FTA in San José. He said many Chinese manufactured products were of poor quality and would swamp the local market. He urged the government to heed his concerns, adding that the industrial sector represented 75% of the country's exports, accounted for 24% of GDP and provided work for 250,000 people. He advocated a partial trade agreement with China including labour and environmental chapters. Costa Rica became the first (and so far only) Central American country to establish diplomatic ties with China rather than Taiwan in 2007.

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