Vigorously Pushing forward Development of Sino-Latin American Relations at a Higher Level.

By Zhao Bentang,

Director-general of Department of Latin American and Caribbean affairs,Foreign Ministry of China

Currently,the political and social situation in Latin American and Caribbean(Latin America)countries is generally stable,and the economy is expected to achieve a moderate recovery and growth.The political pattern of Latin America is continuously adjusted.Both the left-wing and right-wing governments are adapting to the current situation and seeking reform to improve people's livelihood and promote national development and revitalization.The Latin American countries are a newly emerging force in a rising period,and the prospects for development are sound.The overall cooperation between China and Latin America has made a historic breakthrough and is pushed forward comprehensively.China-Latin America practical cooperation has accelerated,and the traditional trade model between the two sides is undergoing transformation and upgrading.China and Latin America joint construction of the Belt and Road will give a new impetus to the joint building of a higher level of cooperative partnership and a community with a shared future for mankind.

I.The situation is generally stable and the political pattern continuously adjusted in Latin American countries

The world is in a period of major development,major transformation and major adjustment.The international pattern and balance of strength are at the key point of development and evolution.All kinds of unstable and uncertain factors are increasing,and many new problems and new challenges emerge endlessly.In the complex and complicated global changes,the developing trend of developing countries and emerging markets has not changed.The Latin American countries maintain the overall stability and orderly development,actively respond to the new challenges brought by changes in the external environment,constantly release the development potential,have steadily upgraded the overall strength,and are playing a more and more constructive role in the reform of the international system.

First,stable political and social developments

The political system in Latin American and the Caribbean region is relatively consolidated,and the concept of balanced economic and social developments is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.In recent years,as the regional countries continue to explore the road of development in line with their own national conditions and the arrival of a new round of electoral cycle,the central-and right-wing political force has come to power in many countries,such as Argentina,Chile,Peru and others,so the political pattern of the region has undergone a periodical change.In response to the rising demand for reform and change,political forces of all countries are playing games fiercely and continuously exploring models of development consistent with their national conditions.Brazil's political corruption scandal continues to ferment,President Temel was sued twice by the prosecution,the Labour Party's potential candidate for the 2018 general election and the former president Lula were convicted by the second trial.In 2017,the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly was established,and the governors and municipal elections were held successively.Ecuador held an election,and the new president Moreno focused his administration on national dialogue and anti-corruption,promoting the social and people's livelihood construction,and maintaining steady development of the country.The game between Peru government and the opposition became intensified.President Kuczynski passed the impeachment process narrowly and the overall political situation remained stable.The political situation in Latin America and the Caribbean will continuously be adjusted as the presidential or Congressional elections of more than 10 countries such as Brazil,Mexico,Venezuela and others are to be held.In overview,the changes in the political ecology and power pattern of Latin America are carried out under the existing system and legal framework. Whether it is the left-wing administration or the right-wing administration is complying with the changes of the current situation,promoting reforms,improving the livelihood of their people and seeking development and revitalization.

Second,economy stabilized and growing

Latin America is rich in strategic resources such as oil and gas,mineral resources,water power, agriculture and forestry, its natural conditions enjoy exceptional advantages,and has a strong foundation for development.With the end of"gold ten years"driven by the demand for commodities in the early 21st century,the regional countries,while using traditional advantages,actively promote industrialization and industrial structure upgrading, increase investment in infrastructure construction,and vigorously promote the diversity strategy of foreign trade and economic cooperation,and have achieved positive results.In the year 2017,the Latin American and Caribbean economies hit bottom and rebounded with 1.2%growth.Most of Latin America's macroeconomic indicators such as employment,consumption and inflation have stabilized and their market confidence has been strengthened.It is widely predicted that the Latin American economy in 2018 is expected to continue a moderate recovery and grow by 2.2%.However,it should also be seen that the economic recovery in Latin America is still facing some structural factors,and many countries have suffered serious natural disasters recently,and the momentum of economic recovery may be affected.In general,the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean will continue to grow at a certain speed in the coming period,providing a material basis for the course of modernization and the improvement of the people's livelihood.

Third, multidimensional, plural and pragmatic foreign exchanges

The Latin American countries have a good relationship with each other,have great flexibility in international relations,have a strong sense of enterprising participation in the reform of the international system,and play a more and more important role in international and regional affairs.Under the multilateral mechanisms and cooperation frameworks such as the United Nations,the Group-20 and the BRICS,the Latin American countries have made a proactive voice to global issues such as the UN Security Council reform,global economic governance,sustainable development,climate change and others,as well as international hot issues such as North Korea's nuclear issue,cyber security and others,and actively maintain the common interests of regional countries and the developing countries.After President Trump is in power,Vice President Burns and Secretary of State Tillers on have visited Latin America consecutively,who convey the positive signal that the United States attaches great importance to the development of relations with Latin America,but the Latin American countries expressed strong dissatisfaction against the U.S.-built border wall along the U.S-Mexico border,the threats to strike Venezuela militarily,and Trump's unfriendly remarks against Central American and the Caribbean countries.The relationship between the United States and Latin America is staggering and lagging behind,and little progress has been made.Latin American countries actively carry out plural diplomacy and attach importance to developing relations with emerging markets such as China,Russia and India and other developing countries.

Fourth,the integration process is moving ahead through twists and turns

As one of the regions with earliest integration,unity and cooperation as well as common development are the long cherished wishes of the Latin American countries.However,because of different development levels and pursuits of different interests,the integration of Latin America presents a diversified and differentiated development trend.In Latin America and the Caribbean,various integration organizations in the political,economic and social fields are close to 30,forming a situation of sub-regional integration going on several tracks.In 2011,the organization covering all 33 independent countries in the region,the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States(Community of Caribbean States),was formally established,demonstrating the new and important progress made in regional integration.Although the Latin American and Caribbean Community is facing difficulties in internal organization and coordination,it is still regarded as an important platform for the region to carry out overall cooperation with non-regional countries.

The Latin America Pacific Alliance is actively exploring new ideas for the"outward oriented"development of regional integration,and has achieved zero tariffs on 92%of trade in goods and services in the region.The Alliance also sets up the"contact country"mechanism and lists Canada,Australia,New Zealand and Singapore as the first 4 candidates,actively promoting signing of the"high quality, high standard economic and trade agreements"with the four countries.The Southern Common Market has overcome the differences on the suspension of Venezuela's membership,actively promoted the facilitation of trade and investment in the region,accelerated the negotiations process of a free trade area with the European Union,and the Trade of European Commission,actively explored the negotiations on a free trade area with Canada,Japan and South Korea,and made progress in inclusiveness with the Alliance.The sub-regional organizations such as the Bolivar Alliance,the Community of Caribbean States and the Union of South American Nations have also overcome their difficulties and continue to develop.With the enhancement of internal cohesion and awareness of external common identity,Latin American countries will continue to reconfigure regional strength and continuously promote regional and sub-regional cooperation.

II. China-Latin American and theCaribbean friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation all-directionally progress

China and Latin America and the Caribbean as the largest developing countries and important developing regions are important components of emerging international force.Working with Latin America and Caribbean is an important part of China's overall diplomacy.In October 2017,the Communist Party of China(CPC)successfully convened its 19th National Congresses,and made a grand blueprint to build China into a powerful,democratic,civilized,harmonious and beautiful modernized socialist strong country during the middle of the 21st Century.General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the Communist Party of China is a political party striving for the well-being of the Chinese people and also for the human progress.China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development,unswervingly pursue a mutually beneficial and open strategy,share the development dividend with other countries and achieve common prosperity with the developing countries.China has the determination and confidence to pioneer a road to a strong country different from the traditional powers,and always stands together with all the developing countries,including countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.In the Report to the 19th National Congress,the CPC,General Secretary Xi Jinping also made it clear that we should promote the construction of new-type international relations and promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.We should uphold justice while pursuing shared benefits and the concept of good faith,real results,affection and sincerity,and strengthen the unity and cooperation with the developing countries.This has made clear for us the general goal and opened a new prospects in deepening China-Latin America relations under the new situation.

First,high-levelexchangesleadthe Sino-Latin American relations to a new higher stage.

President Xi Jinping visited Latin America 3 times in 4 years,covered 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries,and met all the leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean countries having diplomatic relations with China in bilateral and multilateral contacts,which has never seen in the history of the Sino-Latin American relations.The leaders of China and Latin America have in-depth exchange of views on issues such as national governance,exchanges and cooperation in various fields,major international and regional issues,and reached consensus and recorded many achievements.During the visit to Latin America in 2013,President Xi Jinping promoted China to establish a comprehensive cooperative partnership of mutual respect,equality and mutual benefit and common development with the countries having diplomatic relations with China.In 2014,at the first meeting of Chinese and Latin American leaders,President Xi Jinping made a full-range top-level design on China-Latin America relations,and proposed a new pattern of"five in one"and a new framework of"1+3+6"for practical cooperation.After the meeting,President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the Latin America issued the Joint Statement of Brasilia,which formally confirmed the new position of the comprehensive and cooperative partnership between China and Latin America with equality and mutual benefit, and common development.During the 2016 visit,President Xi Jinping made an important speech to the Latin American region in the Peru Congress,advocating to jointly build a great ship of the Sino-Latin American community with a shared future,leading the Sino-Latin American friendly relations into a new voyage.

Since 2017,the high level exchanges between China and Latin America have remained.In May,Argentina President Macri and Chile President Bartlett came to China to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and paid the visit to China.In September,Brazilian President Temel came to China to attend the meeting of the BRICS leaders and the dialogue of emerging markets and developing countries and paid the visit to China.Mexican President Peini came to China to attend the dialogue between the emerging market countries and the developing countries.During the 25th Informal Meeting of APEC leaders,President Xi Jinping held meetings with the president of Chile and Peru respectively to strengthen communication and coordination on Sino-Latin American relations,important international issues and regional cooperation.

China and Latin America continue to understand each other and support each other on issues related to their core and major interests.China actively supports Latin American and Caribbean countries to explore a path of development suited to their national conditions and the efforts to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.Latin American and Caribbean countries firmly support China's position on its core interests.Panama has established diplomatic ties with China,and China has one more member to its circle of friends in Latin America.After the 19th CPC National Congress was successfully held,more than 130 congratulatory messages were sent by the representatives of the party and government,the regional organizations and the multilateral agencies of 22 countries with and without diplomatic relations in Latin America and the Caribbean,which praise China's development achievements and global influence,and look forward to the new prospects for China-Latin America relations.Under the framework of international organizations and multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations,APEC,the Group-20,the BRICS and others,China and Latin America have strengthened cooperation and coordination on the global hot issues of the United Nations reform,sustainable development,climate change and other issues as well as North Korea's nuclear issue,cyber security and others,thus effectively maintaining the common interests of the developing countries.

Second, Sino-Latin American holistic cooperation has made historic breakthroughs and been comprehensively promoted.

After the first Sino-Latin American leaders meeting in 2014,both sides announced the establishment of the Forum of China and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.At the beginning of2015,the first ministerial meeting of the Forum was successfully held in Beijing,marking the official launch of the Forum,thus forming a platform of cooperation between China and all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean for the first time in history.In the past 3 years,the"framework"of the China-Latin American Community Forum is set up and moves onto a good track of operation.China and the member states of Latin American Community held 2 foreign ministers dialogue meetings,convening the National Coordinators Meeting each year,creating a platform for dialogue and cooperation in more than 10 fields,such as political parties,infrastructure,agriculture,enterprises,scientific and technological innovation,youth,think tanks,law,environment,local government cooperation and people-to-people friendship,etc.It has organized 17 sub-Forum activities with more than 20000 direct participants,providing a mechanism guarantee for the implementation of the political consensus and cooperation plan.China has strengthened cultural exchanges through the Forum platform,invited more than 1000 political party leaders from Latin America to visit China,and more than 4000 Latin American talents to further their studies in China.The Sino-Latin American science and technology partnership program and the Sino-Latin American youth scientists exchange program are successfully implemented. And 15 Latin American scientists go to China's scientific research institutions for a short time research.The China and Latin America Joint Laboratory, demonstration farm, news exchange center and other projects have yielded bumper fruits.

In January 2018,the Second Ministerial Conference of the Forum of China and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States was successfully held in Santiago,Chile,and opened a new chapter in the overall cooperation between China and Latin America.President Xi Jinping attached great importance to the convening of the conference,sent a special letter to congratulate,highly affirmed the development of the China-Latin America Forum in the past 3 years,and put forward an important initiative to lead the Sino-Latin American relations with the construction of the Belt and Road,reflecting the sincere wish of the Chinese side to deepen China-Latin America cooperation and achieve common development.During the meeting,China’s side introduced the Belt and Road Initiative advocated by President Xi Jinping,and received a warm response from all the participants,and the two sides formed a political consensus.The conference especially issued a Special Statement on the Belt and Road Initiative.The two sides believe that the joint construction of the Belt and Road will provide new ideas,inject new vitality and open new prospects for the comprehensive partnership of China and Latin America.On how to deepen the Sino-Latin American “1+3+6”cooperation framework proposed by President Xi Jinping,China has put forward cooperation proposals from five aspects as follows:from building grand interconnectivity on both land and sea,to nurturing a grand open market of mutual benefits, to creating huge independent and advanced industries, to grasping the great opportunity of innovation and growth,and to carrying out large scale exchange with equality and mutual trust,which received positive response.The Santiago Declaration,the Joint Action Plan for Cooperation(2019-2021)between China and Latin America and the Caribbean and the Special Statement on the Belt and Road adopted by the conference reflect the clear will of the two sides to deepen cooperation and jointly pursue development in the next stage.The conference has formulated specific initiatives in key cooperation areas such as politics and security, trade and investment,infrastructure and transportation,and opened new fields of cooperation,such as anti-corruption,drug control,anti-cyber crime and so on,and highlighted the new concept of innovation-driven development and green sustainable development.

Third, Sino-Latin American pragmatic cooperation accelerates

In the face of the complicated and severe world economic and financial situation,China and Latin America tap the potential of cooperation,innovate cooperation mode, take capacity cooperation as a breakthrough point,and actively promote the practical cooperation of"1+3+6"and achieve important periodical results.In 2017,trade volume between China and Latin America amounted to US$257.85 billion,an increase of 18.8% over the same period last year.The construction of the Sino-Latin American free trade area has steadily progressed.China with Chile have completed the upgrading of the free trade agreement, with Peru started the escalating negotiation on the free trade agreement,and launched a joint feasibility study on a free trade agreement with Panama and Columbia,and consultations on signing free trade agreements with Uruguay.The Sino-Latin American trade structure is more optimized,and more and more high quality agricultural products in Latin America and the Caribbean have entered the Chinese market.Chile has become the largest source of fresh fruits exported to China.During the "double 11"Shopping Festival in 2017,the Ambassador of Argentina and the Consul General of Brazil in Shanghai took to the netizens’families who bought Argentina red shrimp and Brazil beef,which not only reflected the great importance attached by Latin American and Caribbean countries to developing the Chinese market,but also reflected the high acceptance of high end agricultural products of Latin America and the Caribbean in China.

Chinese enterprises are optimistic about the long-term development prospects in Latin America and the Caribbean,and have set up more than 2000 overseas enterprises in the region.China's direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2016 was US$27.23 billion,up 115.9%,and the cumulative stock of direct investment amounted to US$207.15 billion,accounting for 15.3%of China's total outbound investment.Latin American region has become the second largest destination for China's outbound investment after Asia.In 2016,Chinese enterprises acquired the 30 year operation of Brazil two hydropower stations,involving a total amount of US$3.77 billion,which is the largest outbound investment and merger and acquisition project by Chinese enterprises in the field of electricity production and supply then.The Las Bambas copper mine in Peru,which is invested by Chinese enterprises,involves a total of US$10 billion in capital and is the largest single copper mine built in the world and will play an important role in the local economic and social development.Chinese enterprises have contracted the building of 7 hydropower stations,which have withstood the test of strong earthquakes,delivered continuously power for the economic development of Ecuador,helped the country to become an exporter of power from an importing country,and made important contributions to the flood control and disaster reduction.Since 2017,the capacity cooperation between China and Latin America has been expanding. China has signed an capacity cooperation agreement with Jamaica,and the key projects of Brazil UHVDC transmission and Argentina nuclear power construction are steadily advancing. China and Panama signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Jointly Promoting the Construction of the Belt and Road and set new benchmarks for the cooperation between China and Latin America.In recent years,the rise of e-commerce and digital economy has opened a new door for Sino-Latin American economic and trade exchanges.China has also carried out various forms of financial cooperation,of US$35 billion package financing arrangements for Latin America, about US$17 billion in place,and a special fund for about US$30 billion in capacity cooperation has been launched,and a fund corporation ltd.is set up for this purpose.

The above figures and examples show that the traditional trade mode between China and Latin America is undergoing transformation and upgrading,achieving optimized exports and imports,and new development drive and growth points are emerging constantly.China and Latin America are promising for the development of industries and investment cooperation.The Sino-Latin American economic and trade relations are expected to enter a new stage of development in which trade and investment are equally stressed and more balanced.This is conducive to the long-term,stable and balanced development of China-Latin America's economic and trade cooperation,and will also provide more market and cooperation opportunities for all countries in the world.Under the current world economic situation,the strengthening of infrastructure construction by China and Latin America is not only conducive to the economic growth of the two sides,but a good infrastructure will also reduce the logistics costs of Latin America,facilitate the circulation of Latin American personnel and commodities, and enhance connection between Latin America and the world,which is beneficial to all countries in the world.Sino-Latin American cooperation is a cooperation between developing countries.Its purpose is to give full play to their respective advantages and achieve common development.This is the fundamental driving force for bilateral cooperation.China attaches great importance to the role of related cooperation projects in promoting Latin American economic and social development.The Chinese Government has consistently called on Chinese enterprises to strictly follow the international business rules and local laws and regulations,attach importance to environmental protection and actively fulfill their social responsibilities.China's many major cooperation projects in Latin America have brought big employment opportunities to local areas,and are conducive to local development and improvement of people's livelihood.

Forth,the continuous fever of humanitarian exchanges between China and Latin America

During his visit to Latin America and the Caribbean countries,President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the exchanges between countries lies with the people-to-people amity.Although China and Latin America are far apart,the legislative bodies,the localities,the media and the think tanks have frequent exchanges,and the cooperation in education,culture and tourism has flourished.China has opened 36 Confucius colleges and 11 Confucius classes in 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,and set up the first Chinese cultural center in Mexico City.In 2016,China and Latin America successfully held the China-Latin American Cultural Exchange Year,covering many provinces and cities in China and nearly 30 Latin American and Caribbean countries.It is the largest cultural event held together by the two sides so far.The two sides also held the first China-Latin American media leaders conference in Chile,and more than 100 media leaders from scores of leading media attended,and became a pioneering work in the history of media contacts between the two sides.In 2017,the"Chinese Cultural Year"was successfully held in Mexico,and Hainan Airlines opened a direct flight from Guangzhou to Mexico City.Brazil,Argentina,Bolivia,Panama,Barbados,and Saint Kitts and Nevis adopted visa facilitation policies for the Chinese.International authoritative research institutions polls show that the Latin American and Caribbean people's preference for China has surpassed that for the United States for the first time since 2003.

III. Developing China-Latin America relationship meets new and important opportunities

With the continuing complex and profound changes in the international and regional situations,the strategic impact and global significance of the Sino-Latin American relations are on the rise,and to expand mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve common development has become the common aspiration of China and Latin America.The 19th CPC National Congress clarifies the goal of China's diplomacy in the new era,i.e.working together with other countries to build a new-type international relationship featured by mutual respect,fairness and justice,cooperation and win-win outcomes,and to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind.This will provide new and strong impetus for China and Latin America together to vigorously build a higher level of partnership and a community with a shared future.

China and Latin America are at a similar development stage and their common interests continue to expand.As developing countries and regions,China and Latin America share common positions in maintaining world prosperity and stability,promoting world multipolarization and the democratization of international relations.The strategic consensus between China and Latin America in major international affairs is increasing,and the exchanges and interaction in the Asia-Pacific regional cooperation is increasing,which provides a strong impetus to the strategic connotation and global impact of the Sino-Latin American relations.

China and Latin America have strong economic complementarity and broad prospects for pragmatic cooperation.China and Latin America each has its advantages in resources,capital,market,technology and so on.Both sides are pursuing the dream of development and rejuvenation and the happiness of the people.They both have set up the development plans with ambition and strategic vision,are speeding up the industrial structural adjustment and upgrading,and looking for the development driver in the reform and innovation.There is a strong demand for cooperation between China and Latin America,which needs a higher level of complementary advantages,needs to improve the competitiveness of the economy and realize the industrial value chain to go the middle and high-end.And China and Latin America to jointly build the Belt and Road will be the"golden key"for the two sides to move towards a better future.

The Sino-Latin American friendship has been long and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.The Sino-Latin American culture has the characteristics of openness and inclusiveness,and its cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts have a long history.Since the outbreak of the international economic financial crisis, the international community has deepened reflections on development models.China's development has increasingly attracted the concerns and attention of Latin American and Caribbean countries,whose experience is also worth learning by China.The desire and need for strengthening cultural exchanges between the two sides in the areas of governing the country,developing models and dialogue among civilizations are on the increase and become the driving force for the development of Sino-Latin American relations.

The 19th CPC National Congress has brought new opportunities for China to deepen friendly relations with all countries including Latin American and the Caribbean countries.The leaders of Latin American and the Caribbean countries sent congratulatory messages to congratulate the19th CPC National Congress and express their wishes to deepen their relations with China.China and Latin America should earnestly implement the consensus of leaders of both sides,seize the opportunities and take advantage of the momentum to create a new situation for Sino-Latin American relations and serve better the peoples of both sides.

First,China and Latin America should adhere to the strategic height and long-term perspective to develop bilateral relations,give full play to the leading role of high-level exchanges in bilateral relations,improve the existing dialogue and consultative mechanisms,and strengthen the overall planning of China-Latin America relations.To adhere to equality and continue to understand and support each other on issues involving their core interests and major concerns,and to better safeguard the common interests of both China and the Latin American countries and the developing countries,China actively supports Argentina's hosting of the Group-20 summit in 2018,Chile's hosting of the APEC leaders' informal meeting in 2019 and Brazil’s hosting of the 2019 BRICS leaders meeting.China is willing to coordinate closely with Latin American and Caribbean countries in international and regional affairs,to enhance the global impact of the Sino-Latin American relations,to jointly promote building of a more equitable and rational new international political and economic order,and collectively make greater contributions to the promotion of world peace,stability and development.

Second,China and Latin America should adhere to the concept of mutual benefit and common development,and in the course of promoting construction of the Belt and Road should optimize and upgrade the China-Latin America cooperation, innovate development, create a China-Latin America cooperation situation in broader areas and better structured,with stronger diving power and better quality.China is willing to actively participate in hardware construction such as transportation,infrastructure,energy and others and interconnection and interoperability in Latin America,to open up more marine lanes and direct fly lines,and to continuously improve the density and capacity of China-Latin America interconnectivity network.China is willing to sign the Belt and Road cooperation documents with more regional countries to promote more projects to be launched and early harvest.China will promote trade and investment facilitation with Latin American and Caribbean countries,and welcome their participation in the first China International Import Fair to be held in November 2018 so as to export more high-quality products suitable for market demand in China.China has the ability to provide equipment, technology, funds and corresponding training to Latin America.The two sides can accelerate capacity cooperation,build three channels of logistics, electricity and information,bring to play the synergy of the three parties of enterprises,society and government,and expand the three financing channels of funds,credit and insurance and help Latin America to build itself as soon as possible independent and pluralistic industrial systems.China is willing to connect the Belt and Road scientific and technological innovation action plan with Latin America to build a Cyber Silk Road and a Digital Silk Road between the two sides.China and Latin America can strengthen cooperation in aerospace,renewable energy,artificial intelligence,large data and other emerging fields,and train more Latin American scientific research personnel through the China-Latin America science and technology partnership program and the China-Latin American youth scientist exchange program.China is also willing to support small and medium-sized Latin American and Caribbean countries to enhance their ability to cope with climate change.

Third,China and Latin America should stick to exchanges and mutual learning,consolidate the friendship for generations to come,increase mutual understanding and recognition,and promote the Chinese dream and Latin American dream to enlighten each other.Economic globalization and social informatization provide favorable conditions for China and Latin America to further break through regional,cultural and linguistic differences.The two sides should continue to expand the friendly exchanges between the legislature,the political parties,the local governments,the media,the academic institutions,the civil society and the artgroups,and strengthen the dialogue and exchange on national governance and internal and external policies,and constantly consolidate the social foundation of developing the Sino-Latin American relations.The two sides should make full use of their rich cultural and tourist resources,and provide more conveniences for the transnational tourism of the citizens of both sides and create more opportunities for the people of China and Latin America to get close and amicable to each other.The two sides should,through setting up more cultural centers and more Confucius colleges as well,exchange more students to each other,and create more opportunities for teenagers to contact,learn and make friends with each other,so as to lay a good foundation for carrying forward friendship between China and Latin America.

Fourth,China and Latin America should adhere to mutual promotion between the overall cooperation and bilateral cooperation, and constantly build comprehensive and balanced cooperation networks.As always,China supports the process of unity for self-strength and regional integration among Latin America and the Caribbean countries,will adhere to the principle of equal cooperation,mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation objectives,a flexible and pragmatic way of cooperation,an open cooperation in inclusive spirit,and promote the overall cooperation between China and Latin America with the Forum of China and Latin America as the main platform.The two sides should strengthen policy communication and development strategy docking under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative in accordance with the relevant spirit of the Special Declaration on the Belt and Road.China and Latin America should give play to the role of the core mechanisms such as the Forum Ministerial Meeting,the Foreign Ministers Dialogue,the National Coordinators Conference and others,and continue to build up the sub-forum mechanisms by relying on activities in the existing dozen professional areas and the China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum,and continuously improve Forum mechanism.China is willing to work with Latin America,with the Santiago Declaration and the Joint Action Plan for Cooperation(2019-2021)as the principle and program,to mainly promote cooperation in the fields of political security,trade and finance,energy resources,manufacturing,agriculture and high technology,so as to combine the advantages of China's industry and technology with the resources and human advantages of Latin America and assure the results of China and Latin America joint construction of the Belt and Road to benefit peoples of both sides.The Chinese side will continue to implement well the exchanges plans for the government scholarship,all kinds of personnel training,think tanks and youth,and hold a meeting of the China-Latin America tourism ministers at a proper time to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. China welcomes the active participation of Latin American and Caribbean regional organizations and multilateral institutions in the overall cooperation between China and Latin America,and will give necessary cater in the context of the overall cooperation to the needs of the least developed countries,landlocked developing countries and small island developing countries in the Latin American region.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cuba in the year 1960,the Sino-Latin American relations have gone through nearly 60 years.The relationship between China and Latin America overcomes many difficulties,such as the long geographical distance,the great differences of national conditions and culture,but the current development is achieved,which is proved by a Chinese saying that where there is will there is a way.Currently,China's economy is shifting from high growth to high quality development.China,with a faster innovation and better quality,will produce more extensive and stronger radiation effects and bring more opportunities for cooperation.China is willing to work with Latin America together in the new journey of Sino-Latin American relations to march hand in hand,to unite and cooperate,to promote construction of a community with a shared future for China and Latin America,to bring more welfare to the peoples of both sides and to make new contributions to peace,stability and prosperity in the world.