China and Costa Rica signed a free trade agreement in Beijing yesterday to remove trade barriers and enhance bilateral ties, the Ministry of Commerce announced on its Website.

The agreement is the first free trade pact signed between China and a central American country, and would help both sides tap into each other's markets, as well as other markets in Asia and central America.

The agreement was signed between Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming and his Costa Rican counterpart Marco Ruiz. The two sides hoped the agreement could be implemented as early as the second half of this year.

Yi Xiaozhun, China's vice commerce minister, compared the signing of the agreement to "spring sowing," which would further boost Sino-Costa Rica cooperation in trade, services and investment.

The agreement also laid out a framework for cooperation to energize the two nations' relationship with regard to the sports, cultural and technology fields, said Yi at a celebration banquet.

The two countries would gradually lift tariffs from more than 90 percent of products traded between them once the agreement took effect.

The move would also open sectors for investment from the other side: 45 service sectors in Costa Rica, including telecommunications and real estate, and seven sectors in China.

The tax reduction would benefit the trading of Chinese products such as textiles, light industrial goods and machinery, as well as coffee, beef and fruit juice from Costa Rica, the statement said.

Trade between China and Costa Rica was worth US$3.18 billion in 2009, compared to US$2.89 billion in 2008.