On Nov 8, Rodrigo Chaves Robles, president of Costa Rica, met in San Jose with Shi Taifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and  vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), who was on an official visit to the country.

Noting that Costa Rica is a trustworthy strategic partner of China, Shi said that China appreciates Costa Rica's firm adherence to the one-China principle and stands ready to continue supporting each other on issues concerning respective core interests, enhancing political mutual trust, expanding practical cooperation and promoting people-to-people exchanges. He also said that the CPPCC is willing to strengthen exchanges on state governance with Costa Rica, and will strive to provide stronger support for bilateral ties and further develop pragmatic cooperation in economy and trade, culture and tourism. He introduced the outcomes of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, as well as China’s political systems, including the whole-process people's democracy and the CPPCC system.

Chaves said that Costa Rica attaches great importance to its relations with China and firmly abides by the one-China principle. He thanked China for its support to the socioeconomic development of his country, and pledged to actively participate in the Belt and Road cooperation, promote cooperation in infrastructure while inviting Chinese enterprises to invest and start business in Costa Rica, step up coordination and cooperation on international issues, and push for a more diversified and in-depth bilateral cooperation so as to better benefit the two countries and their people.

Upon invitation from the Costa Rican government, Shi led a CPPCC delegation to visit Costa Rica from Nov 7-9. During the visit, Shi met with Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, president of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, Arnoldo André Tinoco, Costa Rican foreign minister, and Josette Altmann-Borbón, secretary-general of the Latin American Academy of Social Sciences, respectively. The delegation also held talks with local think tank scholars and attended a symposium with representatives of Chinese enterprises in Costa Rica.