President Xi Jinping's visit to Costa Rica is expected to bring the countries' relationship to a higher level, with more cooperation in areas including trade, infrastructure, energy and tourism, said the Central American country's ambassador to China.

Ambassador Marco Vinicio Ruiz said his country is honored to host Xi on his first trip to the region, and the visit is evidence that relations between Costa Rica and China "are going through a very important period".

There have been notable achievements in the six years since the two countries established diplomatic relations on June 1, 2007. China has become Costa Rica's secondbiggest trade partner, and Costa Rica is China's ninth-largest trade partner in Latin America.