San José(Costa Rica)

San José(Costa Rica)

[Overview] San José is the capital of Costa Rica, located in the central valley at an altitude of 1,170 meters in the highlands. The city covers an area of 4,966 square kilometers and is home to a population of 1.42 million.

[Politics] San José has jurisdiction over 11 districts, and is administrated by the city council and the city government. The city council is the city's deliberative and highest administrative authorities, composed of representatives from 11 districts. The mayor is elected by the citizens for a term of five years. The current mayor, Johnny Araya Monge, took office in May 2016.

[Economy] San José was the center of the country's coffee production in the 1940s. Since 1950, the secondary industry in the city has developed rapidly, featuring traditional sectors such as tobacco, textile, and leather, and new sectors such as automobiles, color TVs, and refrigerators. Its suburbs mainly grow coffee and sugarcane.

[Culture and Education] Elementary and secondary education in San José is free and compulsory. The city has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America. Institutions of higher learning in the city include the University of Costa Rica, the National University of Costa Rica, and Costa Rica Institute of Technology. The University of St. Thomas, founded in 1843, is the oldest center of higher learning in Costa Rica. It encompasses 13 departments, 33 research institutions, and more than 200 fields of study.

[Tourism] San José is a popular tourist destination known for cultural diversity as the Central and South American cultures interact here. The streets in the city are lined with trees. Colorful flowers can be found everywhere, and San José is thus nicknamed “City of Flowers.” San José is laid out in a perfect grid-like pattern, with avenues running east-west, and streets running north-south. Avenues and streets extending in the four directions are numbered sequentially with the city center as zero. In recent years, the city government has new districts built in the west of the city, and a large number of residents have moved there. Many monuments, museums, and government agencies are housed in the old town in the east of the city. There are many famous tourist attractions, such as Poás Volcano, on the outskirts of the city.

[Relations with Beijing] On October 17, 2009, Beijing and San José established a sister city relationship. In 2017, the two cities signed the agreement on friendly cooperation.

In recent years, the two cities have maintained close contact and the relations between the two cities have developed smoothly. In 2009, San José held a groundbreaking ceremony for Chinatown. In 2012, Beijing officially handed over the Chinatown memorial arch to the San José city government, contributing to the promotion of mutual trust on political front, trade and investment, cultural interactions, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and the two cities.

圣何塞市(哥斯达黎加)

【概况】圣何塞是哥斯达黎加首都，位于哥中部高原山谷，海拔1170米，总面积为4966平方公里，人口142万。

【政治】圣何塞市下辖11个区，市级领导机构包括市政委员会和市政府。市政委员会是圣何塞市的审议机构和最高权力机构，由来自11个区的代表组成。市长由民选产生，任期5年，现任市长乔尼·阿拉亚于2016年5月就职。

【经济】圣何塞在20世纪40年代是全国咖啡生产中心，1950年以后工业发展迅速，有烟草、纺织、制革等传统工业和汽车、彩电、冰箱等工业，郊区以生产咖啡、蔗糖为主。

【文化教育】圣何塞市实行中小学免费义务教育，教育水平位列拉美前列。高等学校主要有哥斯达黎加大学、国立大学、国家科技学院等，始建于1843年的圣托马斯大学是哥斯达黎加第一所大学，该校建校今天已发展为拥有13个系，33个研究机构，200多个专业的综合性大学。

【旅游】圣何塞是著名的旅游城市，拥有多样的文化，是中美洲和南美洲的文化交汇处。市内绿树成荫，鲜花盛开，素有“花城”之称。城市街道呈方格形，东西称大道，南北称大街，所有街道名均以市中心为零，向四个方向依次排号。近年来，圣何塞市政府在城市西部建设新区，大量居民移居城西新区，东部老城区主要集中了文化古迹、博物馆、政府等机构。城市郊区有许多著名的游览胜地，如博阿苏火山等。

【两市交往】2009年10月17日，北京市与圣何塞市正式建立友好城市关系。2017年，两市共同签署《中华人民共和国北京市与哥斯达黎加共和国圣何塞市友好合作协议》。

近年来，两市交往密切，关系发展顺利。2009年，圣何塞市举办中国城奠基仪式。2012年，我市正式向圣何塞市政府移交“中国街”牌楼，对两国以及两市的政治互信、经贸往来、文化交融和民心相通等各方面发挥了积极作用。

（Source: Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing Municipal Government）