China and Costa Rica were to launch free trade talks yesterday in a historic visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at the start of a Latin America tour including Cuba and Peru.
China has increased diplomacy and investment in the region in recent years, with an eye on natural resources and developing markets for manufactured goods and even arms.
The Costa Rican capital was partially closed for the highest-level visit by a Chinese official to the country, just over a year after it gave up six decades of ties with Taiwan.
Hu, who arrived with scores of businessmen and Communist Party officials on Sunday, was due to announce the start of talks for a joint, free trade accord with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias yesterday morning.
They were also due to sign 11 cooperation deals, from building a joint oil refinery to setting up a Chinese language institute.
Costa Rica has dismissed fears of an invasion of Chinese products into the country under the free trade deal, which could be signed in 2010, diplomats said.
The trade balance has favored Costa Rica up until now, with US$803 million of exports up to September this year, compared with US$671 million of Chinese imports. China, however, deals in a much more diverse range of products.
Costa Rica would be the third Latin American country to negotiate a free trade deal with China, after Chile and Peru, which has not yet concluded its accord.
Costa Rica broke off more than 60 years of relations with Taiwan when it became the first Central American country to begin diplomatic ties with China on June 1, last year.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS