Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the Peruvian Congress in Lima, Peru, Nov. 21, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Ju Peng)
STRONGER CHINA-LATAM COOPERATION FOR SHARED DESTINY
Xi on Monday called on China and Latin American countries to strengthen dialogue on global issues and boost cooperation on domestic development, in a bid to better build their community of common destiny on a new starting point in history.
Xi made the remarks while addressing the Peruvian Congress. He also elaborated on China-Peru relations, China's stance on international order and China's economic development.
In his speech, Xi used a sweet potato as an example to illustrate China's commitment to contribute to the development and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific.
Diana Gomez, a professor at National University of Colombia, said that using the sweet potato as an example was very impressive.
Gomez said Xi's speech shows that "China deepens its opening-up while retaining its own characteristics. Chile, Mexico and Peru set good examples for Latin American countries to learn how to cooperate with China."
President Xi also highlighted the role of trade, investment, finance, industry and other sectors in scaling up their bilateral practical cooperation and urged the two sides to promote the development of the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum.
"We need to make sure that our peoples are the ones who promote, conduct and benefit from our cooperation," the president said.
He announced that in the next three years, China will increase the number of training opportunities of various kinds for Latin America and the Caribbean to 10,000.
A center for press exchange will be set up in China and journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean will be invited to study or work in China, he said.
In addition, China would like to suggest a roundtable on environment and development policies to be held in Beijing next year and looks forward to active participation from LatAm countries, he said.
It is Xi's third visit to Latin America as president since he took office in 2013.
Luis Delgado, a professor of social studies at the state University of Carabobo in northern Venezuela, hailed China's commitment to the development in Latin America.
"With Latin America's potential and the support of the Chinese government, I think it is possible for the region to overcome difficulties and to reactivate the world economy," Delgado said.
