LatAm looks to China for urbanization experience

China's urbanization experience can help Latin America navigate its own rapid growth, experts said Tuesday at a forum on urbanization cooperation between the two.

Entitled "The Latin America and China Summit on Policies and Information," the forum focused on the field of rapid urbanization and its effect on the development of China and Latin American countries.

Fidel Jaramillo, representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Peru, said with around 80 percent of the population living in the urban areas in Latin America, countries need to implement policies to "resolve new and old problems" affecting the region's fast-growing cities.

As China presses ahead with urbanization, the IDB would like to introduce that experience to the Latin American countries, said Jaramillo.

According to Jaramillo, the forum -- launched two years ago when China joined the IDB -- will be a platform for China and Latin America to exchange experiences and information and improve the lives of the urban population as well as development of both sides.

Li Yang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the forum that "urbanization will be the engine that drives China's development."

China's new urbanization will attach great importance to the quality and efficiency of economic and social development, Li said.

China's ambassador to Peru, Huang Minhui, said both China and Latin America are both facing the challenge of making cities sustainable while also reconciling the conflict between economic development and environmental conservation.

Government officials from Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, as well as Chinese and Latin American experts in the field of urban development, attended the two-day event.