China-Costa Rica FTA takes effect Monday
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Xinhua, August 1, 2011
The Free Trade Agreement between China and Costa Rica, signed in April last year, was put into effect Monday, China's Ministry of Commerce said.
The agreement is the 10th of its kind signed by the world's second largest economy, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
As for the trade of goods, at least 90 percent of the goods from both sides will gradually enjoy zero tariff access to each other's markets.
The goods which will benefit from tariff reductions mainly include China's textile raw materials and products, light industrial products, machines, electrical equipment, vegetables, fruits, automobiles, chemical products, unprocessed fur products, leather products, as well as Costa Rica's coffee, beef, pork, pineapple juice, frozen orange juice, jams, processed fish products, mineral products and rawhide.
As for the service trade, Costa Rica will further open 45 sectors to China, including the telecommunications, education, and tourism sectors, while China will further open seven service sectors to Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, the two sides have achieved consensus on rules of origin, customs procedures, technical barriers, sanitary regulations and trade remedies.
Costa Rica has become one of China's major trading partners and investment destinations in central America.
Bilateral trade between the two nations increased 19.2 percent year-on-year to 3.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.
So far, China has reached free trade agreements with ASEAN member countries, Chile, Pakistan, New Zealand, Singapore, Peru and Costa Rica.
The Chinese mainland has also signed FTAs with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions.
