Country Promotes Trade, Culture in Chile

Costa Rica this week promoted its exports and culture in Chile in a commercial mission and art exposition at the University of Chile in Santiago, according to a statement from the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

The activity, called “Costa Rica: Naturally Art,” is meant to create opportunities for Chilean investment in Costa Rica and establish commercial agendas for Costa Rican exporters to this South American nation, the statement said.

The fair, which began Monday and ends today, was designed to allow Costa Rican representatives the chance to show off the country’s goods and encourage trade, as well as promote Costa Rican culture and art.

The exhibition at the university’s Museum of Contemporary Art includes about 80 pieces of Costa Rican artwork from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, as well as food products, software and pharmaceutical goods available for export.

“Aside from commercial development, this fair will allow us to aspire to create a better world through the artistic development of our nation,” said Foreign Trade Minister Martín Zúñiga.

In 2006, Costa Rica imported $217.2 million worth of goods from Chile – mostly medicines, food products, aluminum sheets and textiles – and exported about $14.8 million in copper wire, petroleum, plastics, apples and wine from that country, according to official statistics. Costa Rica and Chile have had a free-trade agreement since 2002.