BEIJING: The cooperation between China and Latin America nations continues to deepen. The latest news indicates that on the heels of Foreign Minister of Mexico Juan Ramon de la Fuente who attended the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico Sergio Gutierrez Luna will lead a delegation to visit China from May 19 to 23, at the invitation of Zhao Leji, chairman of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
The intensive high-level visits from Mexico signify that the country, as a major power in Latin America and China’s second-largest trade partner in the region, places great importance on its relations with China, especially as the visit comes against the backdrop of the US government’s trade protectionism and unilateralism – with both China and Mexico being key targets of US pressure, Wang Youming, Director of the Institute of Developing Countries at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Mexico will strengthen cooperation between the two countries in areas such as connectivity, science and technology, agriculture, tourism and direct flights, and constantly enrich the substance of Mexico-China relations, de la Fuente said when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met him in Beijing last week, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
“Latin America is a major victim or a hard-hit area of the US tariff stick. Latin American countries are seeking to implement the strategy of export diversification,” Yang Zhimin, a researcher with the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
He said there is “an obvious momentum of the eastward development of Latin American countries.”
Agricultural and livestock products as well as mining resources in Latin America need the huge market of China. Meanwhile, the trade pattern between China and Latin America requires more large-scale infrastructure investment from China, Yang said.
Colombia government is seeking to join the China-based New Development Bank, according to AP report, following inking a cooperation plan on jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road with China. China’s Ministry of Commerce cited the economic and commercial counsellor’s office of the Chinese Embassy in Colombia on May 7 as saying that Colombia’s acting trade minister, Cielo Rusinque announced that Colombia has formally submitted its application to join the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) at a seminar themed on Colombia and BRICS: trade opportunities and strategic development alliance on April 30.
The Colombian minister emphasized that Colombia’s exports to China continue to grow and that the BRICS cooperation mechanism will help Colombia integrate into a new international economic framework based on principles of complementary advantages, South-South cooperation and shared development, while advancing market diversification.
Colombia’s interest in joining the New Development Bank reflects its significant role in supporting the country’s socio-economic development, particularly in areas such as infrastructure projects and sustainable financing, Wang Youming said. He added that the objectives of New Development Bank align with Colombia’s national strategy of energy transition. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
