Costa Rica and China will sign a statement of understanding Thursday to promote joint scientific research and exchanges, officials said.

The agreement will be signed by the Costa Rican National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) under last year' s Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement between the two countries.

The new deal came after delegations of both countries paid high-level visits and held extended conversations, officials said.

A high-level delegation from Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences and the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, both part of the CAS, visited Costa Rica in 2008. This was followed by a visit by Costa Rican experts to China at the beginning of 2009.

INBio President Rodrigo Gamez said the agreement "opens the doors for other CAS institutes to be motivated and give the support of this organization to work together with INBio."

"Thanks to the initiative of the Costa Rican and Chinese governments, it is possible to start a relationship of mutual collaboration on science and innovations," Gamez concluded.

                                                                                   　　　　　　　　　Source:Xinhua