Economic and trade cooperation between China and Latin America has gained momentum and been applied to more sectors, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Thursday.

Shen Danyang said the rapid trade growth has benefited the economic development of both sides, and interdependent trade relations between China and Latin America has been developed.

China is the third-largest trade partner for Latin America after the United States and the European Union. The two-way trade's volume reached $261.2 billion in 2012, up 8.2 percent year on year, according to China's General Administration of Customs.

With huge market potential and highly complementary trading between both sides, there remains huge opportunities for joint work between China and Latin America in the future, Shen added.

The trade volume between China and Trinidad and Tobago increased 33 percent annually from 2002 to 2011, China's official data showed.

The free trade agreement between China and Costa Rica was the first of its kind between China and Central American countries. The bilateral trade volume hit $6.17 billion in 2012, a year-on-year growth of 30.5 percent.

China is Mexico's second-largest trading partner, while Mexico is China's second-largest trading partner in Latin America, official data showed.

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2013)