Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a meeting in Santiago, Chile with foreign ministers from the Dominican Republic, Chile, Ecuador and Haiti, as well as the representative of El Salvador that China is taking moves to strengthen the relationship through the China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum. The focus is on increased free trade, globalization and deeper cooperation with the region. China is unfolding the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative at the upcoming forum.
On 22 January 2018, the Second Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum opened in Santiago, Chile. During the forum, the two sides summed up what has been achieved and looked into plans for the future to take the cooperative partnership to a higher level.
Trade between China and Latin America has grown 22 times from 2000 to 2013. Trade in 2017 was US$266 billion, according to an ECLAC report presented at the II Meeting of Ministers of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The report, “Exploring new cooperation spaces between Latin America, the Caribbean and China” looks into advances made after the first meeting of the forum held in Beijing in 2015.
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China CELAC Forum
Xinhuanet
ECLAC
23 January 2018
