Closer ties with China spur development in Latin America

MEXICO CITY - Strengthening ties with China can boost economic diversity and spur development in Latin America and the Caribbean, experts said.

"China is opening a door in Latin America and the Caribbean that leads to progress in development, and provides opportunities for countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina that need to diversify their economies," Mexican expert on international relations Ulises Granados told Xinhua News Agency.

Granados, who is coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Studies Program at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, said that China's interest in the region offers "a road map to strengthen Chinese-Latin American cooperation and integration toward progress on both sides".

Argentina's Pablo Sanguinetti, corporate director of economic analysis and knowledge for development at the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America, said ties between China and Latin America provide an opportunity for the region's economic growth.

Like Granados, he believes China will continue to be an engine of global growth in the coming years, despite more moderate growth at home.

To make the most of "this opportunity and expand its offer of products beyond raw materials, Latin America and the Caribbean should invest more in the capacity and skills of its human resources, innovate its development policies, and expand financial flows earmarked for regional integration and infrastructure," Sanguinetti said.

He said it was up to Latin American countries to direct Chinese investments to where they are needed, citing infrastructure as a key example. "The great news is that it depends on us."

Mariana Escalante, who teaches at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the University of Anahuac, said relations between China and Latin America offer "great opportunities, and also major challenges," such as in trade.

"There are opportunities to generate a greater capacity, and the challenge is how to do that," said Escalante, adding: "It requires greater infrastructure and better connections."

What would make cooperation easier, she said, is that Latin America and China are complementary in several ways, not just economically, but also academically and culturally.

The experts made the remarks this week on the sidelines of an international seminar titled Latin America and the Caribbean and China: Conditions and Challenges in the 21st Century.

Some 130 experts from countries across the region and China attended the seminar organized by UNAM's Center for China-Mexico Studies, discussing issues including economics, trade and investment, political and international relations, as well as environmental protection.