Costa Rica delivers China-donated bicycles, balls to poor youth
August 26th, 2009 | by admin |The Costa Rican government on Tuesday delivered 600 soccer balls and 335 bikes donated by China to poor young people in rural areas.
The delivery was part of the donation of 10,000 balls and 1,000bikes from the Chinese government after agreements were reached between the two countries last November.
“I want my first words to thank the Chinese government for this generous donation of bikes four our youth and soccer balls for our students,” Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said at the delivery ceremony.
“China is an example to follow,” Arias said. “In the last 25 years it has helped 300 million people out of poverty … It is the fastest growing economy in the world.”
About 400 million people ride bikes in China, said Chinese Ambassador to Costa Rican Wang Xiaoyuan.
Bikes are environmental friendly and must be promoted, he said.
“I think all governments should promote the use of bikes and in this sense I think Costa Rica shares China’s point of view, because bikes have low costs, produce no greenhouse gases and take less space on the road,” Wang said.
