LIMA - Relations between Peru and China should help attract Chinese investment to spur the South American nation's technological development, the chief of Peru's Foreign Trade Society (ComexPeru) said Monday.

A free trade agreement that went into effect three years ago made clear rules for promoting trade and investment between the two countries, ComexPeru President Eduardo Ferreyros said.

Costa Rica has set a good example for other Latin American nations by successfully attracting investment from a Chinese computer company, as a way to promote such technology, he said, adding that the country's leading exports now are computer parts instead of agricultural products.

Ferreyros said that since the FTA was signed, China has replaced the United States as Peru's largest trade partner.

Thanks to the agreement, he said, Peru has become an attractive market for Chinese investment, and China a destination for Peruvian exports, such as textiles, fish, minerals and agricultural products.

President Ollanta Humala's recent visit to China would promote the South American country's role as a trade bridge between the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.

Humala kicked off his first state visit to China last week since taking office in July 2011. He also attended the Boao Forum for Asia in China's southern coastal city of Sanya on Sunday.

The FTA between China and Peru, which took effect in March 2010, was the eighth such agreement ever launched by China and the second one launched by the country in Latin America.