The Chinese and Costa Rican commercial delegations said on Wednesday that they were satisfied with the progress made through the third round of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.

The negotiations, held in San Jose from June 15 to 17, cleared some issues for the fourth round to be held in Beijing from September 15 to 18.

Chinese chief negotiator Zhu Hong said that "the Costa Rican side has promised us that the offer will be better in the coming round," Zhu said in a press conference in San Jose.

"We had a good discussion on almost all the issues like services, commercial defense, controversies solutions, commercial values and other issues of cooperation," Zhu said.

Costa Rican chief negotiator Fernando Ocampo told the press on Wednesday that during the round there was a large range of agreement on issues like the national treatment and sanitary measures.

"So, we can foresee a definite agreement on these issues for the coming round in Beijing," Ocampo said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2009)