On the afternoon of December 3 local time, at the invitation of the Costa Rican government, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), arrived in San Jose, kicking off his official goodwill visit to Costa Rica.

As an important country in Central America, Costa Rica has made outstanding contribution to safeguarding and promoting regional peace, Jia said in a written statement upon arrival at the airport. Although China and Costa Rica are far apart geographically, the two peoples share a long history of friendship, he said. The establishment of diplomatic ties in 2007 has opened a new chapter for the development of bilateral relations. Over the past five years, the two countries have scored fruitful achievements in their friendly cooperation in such fields as politics, economy and people-to-people exchanges, Jia said. Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla's state visit to China last August was very successful, injecting a new impetus to the comprehensive development of bilateral relations, Jia said. He said he was looking forward to holding in-depth talks with Costa Rican leaders on bilateral ties and other issues of common concern, so as to jointly work for the beautiful future of bilateral friendly cooperation.

Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the CPPCC National Committee Qian Yunlu and other accompanying officials arrived by the same plane.

Enrique Castillo, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica, and Chinese Ambassador to Costa Rica Li Changhua greeted Jia at the airport.

Upon departure from Italy, Jia was seen off at the airport by the President of the Province of Palermo, and Chinese Ambassador to Italy Ding Wei.

Costa Rica is the second leg of Jia's three-nation tour after Italy. He will also visit Argentina.