On April, 24th, 2013, Xie Yuan, the vice president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) held a banquet for H.E. Mr. Alfio  Piva Mesén, the vice president of Costa Rica and his group to welcome their visit to China. H.E. Mr. Marco Vinicio Ruiz, the Ambassador of Costa Rica to China, the diplomats from the Embassy of Republic of Costa Rica in China, and representatives of the Chinese entrepreneurs were present at the banquet.

Vice President Xie Yuan said in his address, although it was not a long time since the diplomatic relations between China and Costa Rica had been established, the bilateral relations between the two countries developed fast, and the high-level exchange of visits was frequent. China had become the second largest trading partner of Costa Rica at present. At the same time as the official relation was developing rapidly, the people-to-people contact was also increasing day by day. In this September, the CPAFFC, China-Latin America and Caribbean Friendship Association, and Costa Rica-China Friendship Association was going to hold 4th China-Latin American People-to-People Friendship Forum in San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica. The people’s friendship and the common aim of development linked the two countries closely. The CPAFFC would make its further effort to promote the closer contact between the people of the two countries.

In his speech, Vice President Alfio Piva first expressed his deep sympathy to the earthquake that took place in Ya’an, Sichuan. He said, after the establishment of the diplomatic relations, China and Costa Rica achieved great success in exchange and cooperation in various circles, including the continuous high-level exchange of visits. Costa Rica believed that the friendly relation between China and Costa Rica and the friendship between the two peoples would bear fruitful results with the joint efforts of the both sides. President Piva also highly praised the CPAFFC for its contribution to promote China-Costa Rica friendship.
H.E. Mr. Alfio Piva and his group visited Beijing from April 23 to 26 at the invitation of the CPAFFC.