Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade just returned with some good news from a recent visit to Beijing, said the Foreign Trade Ministry in a statement.

Foreign Minister Alexander Mora together with the Costa Rica’s Ambassador to China, Patricia Rodríguez, celebrated the countries 10 years of diplomatic relations during the recent visit.

One of the main outcomes of the visit was a plan to establish a higher education center in Costa Rica offering studies on economic and business relations with a special focus on China and Costa Rica.

With the purpose of strengthening the knowledge and positioning of Costa Rica and its companies in the Chinese market, and analyzing and following up on the evolution of bilateral economic and commercial relations, Minister Mora promoted a new strategic alliance initiative with the state  International Business and Economy University (IUBE, acronyms known internationally).

The two countries formalized the agreement to establish the higher education center in a memorandum of understanding. The China-Costa Rica Economic and Business Studies Center will operate under a public-private partnership, and will also aid in an advising capacity to strengthen bilateral economic and trade relations.

The IUBE was founded in 1951. In addition to serving as the top training institution for Chinese institutions dedicated to foreign trade and economy, it is a prestigious think-tank, which advises and broadly supports the government in its foreign trade strategy and action.