Yang Jianmin, a researcher with the Institute of Latin-American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Wen's visit showed China's confidence on future cooperation with these countries. "Premier Wen brought operable and constructive plans to Latin America," he said.

In his ECLAC speech, Wen called for expanding common interests of China and Latin America, taking economic and trade cooperation as priority. He said China and Latin American countries should strive toward the goal of increasing trade to $400 billion in five years.

In terms of financial cooperation, the central banks of China and Brazil signed a currency swap deal worth 60 billion reals or 190 billion yuan ($30 billion). In his speech at the ECLAC, Wen said Chinese financial institutions will allocate $5 billion to launch a China-Latin America cooperation fund for joint investment in cooperation projects in manufacturing, high and new technology and sustainable development. The Chinese side will also initiate a $10-billion special loan to support infrastructure cooperation between the two sides, Wen said, adding that China is ready to discuss and sign currency swap agreements with more Latin American countries.

Yang Jianmin said the agreements indicate China's cooperation quality with these countries is on rise. In the past, China's trade with Latin American countries involved mostly resource imports. Now the trade range is greatly extended. For example, China and Argentina pledged to enhance cooperation in food, culture, education, science and technology, tourism and law enforcement as well as in solar, nuclear and other forms of energy. China and Chile agreed to further advance cooperation in areas such as trade, mining, agriculture, science and technology, renewable energy, the service industry, education and forestry.

Wen also said China is willing to set up research and development centers for agricultural technology, demonstration industrial parks for farm product processing and development zones for agricultural investment in Latin America.

Potential

Chinese analysts are confident about future cooperation between China and Latin American countries.

Yang Shouguo said China and Latin American countries have formed a complementary trade and economic relationship. China is undergoing economic transformation, while Latin American countries are conducting economic reforms. The reforms will not block the complementary relationship between them, but will extend the range of their cooperation, he said.

Yang Shouguo said agricultural cooperation, including trade in agricultural products and agricultural technologies and equipment, between China and Latin American countries is promising. "China is a populous country. Latin American countries have rich experiences in growing plants and raising livestock," he said.

"Now is an unprecedented historical opportunity for China and Latin-American countries to develop their relations, especially their trade and economic cooperation. And they all know this," stressed Yang Jianmin. He explained that the countries Wen visited are among the most developed in Latin America. They are economically energetic and have resisted the global financial crisis.

Yang Jianmin said developing trade and economic cooperation with China is a good way for these countries to realize their own development. A UN unit on Sino-Latin American studies released a report recently, according to which, Latin American countries must develop their economic cooperation with Asian countries, especially China, so as not to miss out on China's rapid development.

"It is predictable that the next five to 10 years will witness the rapid development of the Sino-Latin American relationship," Yang Jianmin said. He was confident that China and Latin America will accomplish the goal of boosting their trade volume to $400 billion in the near future. In 2001, the Sino-Latin American trade volume was only $14.9 billion. In 2007, the number climbed to $100 billion, and in 2011, $241.5 billion. "The trade volume should continue an annual 30-percent increase in next five years," he said.

Yang Jianmin pointed out that the potential in investment is even bigger. China's investment to Latin America was too small to count before 2010. However, in 2010, China's annual foreign direct investment to the area soared to $15.3 billion, exceeding the sum of past 10 years. By the end of 2011, China's investment to Latin America had reached $70 billion.

China's Pledges

- Raising Sino-Latin American trade to $400 billion in five years

- Allocating $5 billion to launch a China-Latin America cooperation fund

- Initiating a $10-billion special loan to support Sino-Latin American infrastructure cooperation

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